Copy Cat
by dreemseeker
Summary: Being a bounty hunter has more consequences than Stephanie ever realized. She never knew where she would find new enemies, or new friends. Established Relationships. Babe HEA.
1. Chapter 1

Standard FF disclaimers.

Copy Cat

For the tenth time, Stephanie checked the clock on the dashboard. Her car was parked down the street, half a block from the house that she was watching. Connie had confirmed this morning that her skip was returning to his parent's home today. His mother was expecting him. But the kid did not seem interested in keeping any kind of schedule. Stephanie had been sitting here, waiting for over an hour. She had just pulled out her cell phone to give Connie a call, when a car turned the corner and drove down the block. Returning the phone to her handbag, Stephanie watched as the car pulled into the Hamblin's driveway. The garage door opened and the car pulled in. "Game on," she said with a smile.

This was the third time that Stephanie had tried to catch up with Ritchie Hamblin. The kid was just nineteen, and she figured that he was either scared or extremely determined not to go to jail for the first time in his life. And while throwing eggs at police cars was not as serious as many other crimes, he had been caught and he did have to pay the price for his public nuisance charge.

Stephanie looked around carefully before she got out of her car and walked toward the house. She grumbled to herself as she stomped up to the doorstep. "This is way too much work for a stupid low bond skip." She muttered under her breath.

As she approached the porch, Stephanie could hear movement inside the house. She wished, again, that Lula was here with her, so that she could send her out around to the back door. She figured the young kid was sure to be bursting through it any minute now. But at this moment, Lula was at the salon down the street from the Bonds office. She was taking advantage of their Grand Opening Special to get her hair tinted to match the purple sequined spandex dress that she was wearing on her date with Tank tonight.

Stephanie did not really begrudge her friend the time she was taking off to prepare for this special date. This was a big moment for her. Tank was giving her another chance at a relationship, and she was determined to give it her best shot. She did not want to risk losing him again. Lula wanted everything to be perfect tonight, and Stephanie could not blame her.

Still, Stephanie was here now. She was on her own, and she was more than ready to grab Ritchie's bony little butt and get him taken in to be re-bonded. "Three times a charm," she said softly, shaking her head as she checked and double checked that she had her cuffs and pepper spray tucked into the back of her waistband. Her handbag was slung across her chest and Stephanie patted the bulge in the bag. She nodded, confirming that the stun gun was there, easily within reach. She took in a sharp breath as her hand hit her .38 special that had fallen to the very bottom of the big bag.

Rolling her eyes, she squared her shoulders, and stepped forward. The gun could stay right where it was. It was not as if she would use it, even knowing that she had it with her today. Feeling as ready as she would ever be, Stephanie reached out to knock on the heavy looking wood door in front of her. This time she knew that Ritchie was where he was supposed to be. His mother had told Connie earlier this morning that he was coming to pick up a few things from his bedroom that he wanted to move out to his dorm room. That was Ritchie's car in the garage. Everything was in place, it was time to get this done. Her hand was up, poised and ready to knock.

Just then the front door was thrown open, but no one seemed to be there. After a moment, Stephanie leaned forward to peer into the room. "Hello?" she started to say. Dread gripped her as she heard a series of loud clicking sounds behind her. Almost immediately she felt the sharp slaps on her back and legs.

Knowing better, Stephanie still spun around to see where the kids were this time. The paint balls were raining down on her, the sting of their hits was enough to take the breath out of her lungs, and she couldn't even see anyone yet.

Suddenly, someone yelled a word that she couldn't understand, and she saw the kids, all friends of Ritchie's, running through the gate in the fence between the houses across the street. Howling like wolves, they took off running down to the end of the street where they turned the corner and disappeared from view. Stephanie watched them, shaking her head. They weren't nearly this vocal during the other encounters she'd had with them.

Overlapping patches of green and blue and pink and bright orange now decorated her clothes, and face and hair. She could just imagine how bad she looked this time. This assault had been cleverly planned, just like the one at the football field, last week, where Ritchie was supposed to be at football practice, and the attack a few days later at the Purple City Pizza and Grill the Cluck Chicken company where he used to work. They had known that she was coming. They had probably been watching her the whole time that she was waiting for Ritchie to show up this morning. She sighed. This was getting old. A noise from inside the house pulled her attention away from the now empty street, and she turned back to the door.

Finally, something snapped inside her brain, she had had it. She was fed up and she was getting very angry. "Oh, no you don't," she growled and lurched forward as she saw Ritchie peek his nose around the front door. Before he could raise his paintball gun to shoot at her, Stephanie grabbed at his arm and wrangled him down onto the floor. Her cuffs came out and she slapped them on his wrist. Ritchie's gun clattered to the floor, as he tried to twist away from her grip. But she was not about to let him go, and she managed to cuff his other wrist and began to drag him down the street to her car.

Just as she had opened the door, Stephanie looked up as some crazy howling and hooting announced the return of the paintball warriors. Both Stephanie and Ritchie, and her car, ended up getting splattered from top to bottom with more of the bright, colorful paint. She finally managed to get him into the back seat of the car, and slammed her door to shut out the rest of the attack. "Seriously Ritchie, what is this all about," Stephanie said, turning in her seat to glare at him. "Paintballs? What were you thinking?"

She read him the riot act during the entire ride to the Police station downtown. Ritchie just looked at her wide eyed, and actually had the nerve to act relieved when they pulled into the parking lot and the lecture ended. She walked the kid through the doors, trying to ignore the snickers and snide comments from everyone there.

"Get stuck in a Gay Pride parade Steph?" Eddie giggled. He stopped his laughter abruptly when he saw the glare that she gave him.

Connie was waiting to re-bond Ritchie, as planned. Stephanie handed the body receipt to her. Connie held the paper by its corner, as it was smudged with pink and yellow paint. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the two of them, all covered with paint. She was speechless for a moment, finding it impossible to even ask what happened.

Stephanie nodded briefly at Connie, she was ready to turn the whole deal over to her now. But she actually found herself wishing that Ritchie would have had to sit and cool his heels in a cell for a while, for the stunts he had pulled on her. She shrugged off the thought, she was just glad it was over. After hearing more than her fill of the stupid jokes and the teasing comments, she glared at everyone as she left the building. Almost daring them to say one more word!

Since she was still taking care of Ritchie, Stephanie knew that Connie would not be back to the office to cut her a check for a while, so she headed to her apartment to attempt to clean herself up. It took all of the hot water, and several scrubbings before she was finally paint free.

The whole time she was carrying on an internal debate. It was still early in the day and Stephanie knew that there were a few more folders in her bag, skips that she had to find and bring in soon. She needed the money, the check from Ritchie's capture would not be nearly enough to cover her bills. But by the time she emerged from the bathroom, she had decided to take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow would come quickly enough.

Throwing on some shorts and a tank top, she headed to the kitchen. "Hey Rex," she said, as she passed by the aquarium sitting on the counter. "You would not believe the day that I've had!"

Carrying on a one sided conversation, Stephanie opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of grapes and her nearly empty jar of olives. She told Rex about Ritchie and his friends. She explained how much it stings, as those small paint balls explode when they hit you. She dropped the grapes into his dish.

"They _still_ sting Rex." She said, looking into his little black eyes. Rex twitched his whiskers. Stephanie smiled. Rex was always so understanding. She winked at him and he turned and disappeared into his soup can.

With her peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water, Stephanie settled down in front of her small TV and popped her favorite movie into the old VCR. "That's the ticket," she said softly. No more Ritchie, no more paintballs, no more jokes at her expense at over the TPD. Before long she had fallen asleep.

While Stephanie dozed that afternoon, word of the paintball attacks spread like wildfire throughout the burg. Helen Plum was mortified that another story about her daughter's obviously disastrous job was all anyone wanted to talk about. It was the same old thing, and she wondered, again, why Stephanie wouldn't call it quits with Vinnie's bond business. She wondered what it would be like to not be the center of gossip over Stephanie's latest escapades. She wondered if she should tell her that Virginia Spraegue's daughter was getting married and was going to be leaving her teller position at the local branch of her bank. With a nod, Helen decided that she would tell Stephanie about the position. Working as a teller would be a lot safer and a lot cleaner than being a bounty hunter. She plugged the phone cord back into the wall and dialed Stephanie's number.

Helen's calls went unanswered. Leaving message after message, she finally gave it up for the time being and focused on getting dinner started. She did not know that there were others around town that were equally interested in the paint ball stories. Plans were being made. Strategies put into play. Within 24 hours all of the paintball guns and the entire supply of paint ball pellets in the greater Trenton area would be sold out.


	2. Chapter 2

Standard FF disclaimers apply.

II

Chapter 2

II

Sometime just before midnight, Stephanie awoke with a start. Rex was busy spinning in his wheel, and she could not hear any other sounds, but she knew that something made her wake up. She glanced over at the door. All the locks were in place.

"Wishful thinking Steph," she said with a sigh. Ranger was still gone, she knew he would not be back for a midnight visit any time soon. She shook her head and pulled herself up into a sitting position, she really missed him. Still on the couch, she looked up at the blue screen on the TV, the movie had ended hours ago. Apparently, she had been too tired to watch it all the way through. Turning off both the TV and the VCR, Stephanie made her way into the kitchen, still listening for whatever it was that woke her.

It was quiet, a normal quiet, and Stephanie was puzzled. Moonlight streamed in through the windows, it was actually peaceful. Whatever it had been, it was gone now. What did not leave, however, was that vague feeling of uneasiness that she could feel deep in her gut. It was just strong enough to niggle at her, but not powerful enough to actually get her worried. Stephanie sighed and moved silently through the dark apartment, heading to her bedroom. If she was lucky she could get a few more hours of sleep. She was already dreading the plans that she had made to catch up with her next skip. She definitely needed some more rest. Stephanie took one more look around. Still quiet. She shrugged and crawled into bed. But she found it difficult to get back to sleep.

Now that she had Ranger on her mind, she could not help but replay their last conversation. He had been getting ready to leave, but this time he seemed reluctant to go. She could not see his face clearly during that last visit, the shadows hid him as he sat in the chair over in the corner of the room. But there was something different in his voice when started talking to her. She had held her breath that night as he spoke, not wanting to miss a single word. He told her he'd finally realized something very important. Stephanie had closed her eyes then, wishing, hoping to hear the words that would reflect the way she had been feeling herself. When she heard him say that he wanted to be with her when he got back, she couldn't stop the tears that started to fall.

"Ranger," she had whispered, but he was gone. He'd left before she could ask any of the million questions that she had. Before she could reach out to him, hold him in her arms once more. Before she could tell him that being with him was exactly what she wanted, too.

With another huge sigh, Stephanie flopped over on her back, she remembered every vivid detail of that night. His words were exactly what she had wanted to hear for so long. She had replayed those moments over and over. Hoping it had not been a dream, hoping that she really had heard him say those words to her.

A tightness in her chest made it hard to breathe again. Why didn't she speak up that night, why didn't she go to him, keep him from leaving until he could hear everything that she'd wanted to say to him. Those thoughts haunted her as she tried to sleep.

She only knew that she had, in fact, finally fallen asleep, because the alarm nearly gave her a heart attack when it buzzed her awake.

Pulling her still damp hair into a loose pony tail to keep it out of her way, Stephanie drained another cup of coffee in an effort to shake off the last of her sleep deprived stupor. She was desperately hoping that the coffee could do what her shower had not yet achieved. Looking out of the window she rolled her eyes. It was still dark out there.

"Hey, Rex. Tell me again why I dragged myself out of bed at this indecent hour." Rex stopped only long enough to look at her with his little black eyes and to grab a crust of toast before retreating into his soup can. "Yeah, I could have told you that," she said to his mostly empty aquarium, before pushing back away from the counter and slumping down into the nearest chair.

Once again Stephanie stared at the small pile of folders stacked on her kitchen table. She had only a week left to find these skips before their bonds were up. With a heavy sigh, Stephanie Plum, frustrated bounty hunter, shook her head. She had already wasted so much time hunting these last four FTA's with absolutely nothing to show for it. At least Ritchie's file was no longer in the pile, restoring a bit of confidence in her abilities.

It was now not just the checks that she needed, and make no mistake about it, she did need the checks. It was the hit to her pride that motivated her to be up at the crack of dawn this morning ready to go out once again and bring these people in. Stephanie was nothing if not tenacious about getting the job done. It may not always be pretty, but she liked to think that she usually always found her man. Or woman if that was the case, as it was with Melanie Winkelstein, the woman whose folder was sitting on the top of the pile.

Melanie, or 'Marry me Mel' as she was known in the burg, was a desperate serial divorcee. The thirty something woman had now been married three times. Her particular type of clingy dependence typically manifested itself right after the 'I do's' and had quickly led her into problems each time.

This last go around was especially ugly. Public displays of the marital discord pushed husband number three into filing for divorce in record time, siting 'irreconcilable differences'. But Mel did not like the thought of being alone, especially this early in the game and she fought it. Mel had contested the whole thing, stating that it was just a huge misunderstanding. She was obviously not ready to be single again yet. Some of the people who knew her best, would be quick to say that they thought that she had lost her mind. To them, this latest marriage had looked doomed from the start. But Melanie was in love, she had felt blindsided with the problems that crept up. She couldn't understand why he didn't love her enough to work through whatever was upsetting him.

Melanie Scott- Hooper-Anderson - Winkelstein was caught stealing back the engagement ring, that she had pawned in a fit of rage, after her depressing loss in the divorce court. It was her first offence and Stephanie knew that it would not be a big deal to re-bond her, but Mel was being evasive to the point of frustration. Stephanie had tried everything, but the calm logical approach had resulted with the door being slammed in her face. And finding her at her place of business had only caused a scene when Melanie, the dental assistant, had sprayed her with fluoride. Following Mel only proved that she was really good at hiding. It was time to get serious about bringing in this skip.

True to form, Stephanie had done her homework and found that good ol' Ms. Winkelstein was known to stalk the local fitness center, for future spousal prospects. She would show up just as soon as they opened up at 5am. But she would be gone by 6:30am so Stephanie had to work fast. Her building was completely deserted as she rushed down the stairs and out into the parking lot. The thought, that no one else was crazy enough to be up this early, flitted across her mind. Yeah, she could totally relate to that!

She did not notice the black truck that pulled away from the curb and followed several car lengths behind her. It truly had not even entered her mind that she would have any of the rangemen looking after her. She had not blown up any cars or had any stalkers lately. Besides, Ranger was gone, so she had not had any discussions about her safety with anyone in quite some time.

Vince was her shadow today, he was well aware that things had been slow, but that was a good thing. It meant that she had been relatively safe from the crazy that usually followed her around. Like all of the other rangemen, he liked to be able to look out for Stephanie, especially when Ranger was gone. Whether she seemed to realize it or not, she held a special place in the hearts of all of the men. She was like family to most of them, and they would always protect their own. And they would do it without her knowledge as much as possible, they knew that she hated them to see her get into the messes that seemed to find her so easily.

Pulling her car into the parking lot at _Retro Fitness_, Stephanie immediately found Mel's cute little compact car. She looked at the small green digital numerals of the clock, it was now just after 6:00 (ugh!) am. Stephanie checked her pockets, she had her handcuffs and a small can of pepper spray, it was all she could carry without looking obvious. She knew she had to hurry, Mel could be done at any time, depending on her success with the eligible bachelors who were working out here this morning. She slammed the car door and rushed to the entrance. Vince watched her go and pulled the truck just out of view.

Loud clanking and the usual gym noises greeted her as she pushed the doors open. Stephanie immediately spotted Melanie, she was anxiously engaged in some serious flirting while using the free weights in the left corner of the large open space. The woman was dressed to kill in bright colored spandex. The midriff showing top was in a nearly florescent tangerine and her tight workout pants, that came to just below her knees, coordinated in a deep coral orange. Her hair was pulled back in a perfect low ponytail tied up with a sleek clip, and Stephanie had a hard time believing that anyone could function well enough to care what she looked like this early in the morning. She shrugged, as she watched Mel for a few minutes more. Stephanie supposed that, for Mel, it was all about being seen and if she did not want to go unnoticed, she had definitely achieved her goal. It was impossible to miss her in that get-up.

Stephanie strolled over, pulling her sweatshirt off over her head as she walked toward Melanie. Her own hair was still messily pulled up into a high pony tail and she wore her black yoga pants paired with a black sports bra covered by a white tank top. Work out gear plain and simple. It was easy to throw on, easy to move in, and it was nothing that she wouldn't mind sweating in. It had never occurred to Stephanie that it would matter much what she wore to a gym. Of course, she was not trying to catch husband number four.

The plan had been to causally move around unnoticed and then kind of sneak up on Mel while she was busy with her workout. But it only took about a minute for Stephanie to realize that the plan was failing miserably. Because that was how long it took for all of the guys in the gym to focus their attention on the new girl.

Much to Mel's annoyance, all male eyes were on Stephanie. At first she was furious that the focus had been pulled away from her. But then she realized who it was that they were staring at, and she panicked. The obnoxious bounty hunter was headed her way. Throwing her stuff into her big duffle bag, Melanie bolted, but not before she pulled the rack of hand weights down into Stephanie's path.

Already in motion to follow Melanie, she couldn't stop when a fifteen pound barbell painfully slammed into her foot, and Stephanie went down. Three large men were instantly there to help her up. She smiled and thanked them for their help, frustrated that her great plan hadn't even had a hint of a chance to work this morning. She struggled to limp quickly out of there, with at least a semblance of dignity, as she followed Melanie. Unbelievably the guys all waved at her as she hurried to the door in pursuit of the woman that they had apparently not given much notice to at all.

With the head start that Melanie had, Stephanie was certain that she was too late, again, surely Mel was long gone by now. But this was Stephanie's lucky day. Running into the parking lot, Stephanie saw that Mel was still standing next to her car, her hand fumbling around in the enormous duffle bag looking for her keys.

Wasting no time, Stephanie covered the distance between them. Melanie was still distracted with her search and didn't hear Stephanie walk up behind her. Without a word she slapped the handcuffs on one wrist and pulling Mel's other arm up behind her back, finishing the job. Mel tried to twist away, but ended up losing her balance and she fell heavily against her car.

"Come on, Melanie," Stephanie said. "Let's just get this done."

Helping her stand upright, Stephanie carefully led Ms. Melanie Winkelstein to her old beat up Ford Escort. It was not much to look at, especially with the impromptu rainbow colored paint job she got yesterday. Certainly, it was not nearly as cute as Melanie's car, but it was paid for. Stephanie sighed, that was really the best thing that she could think to say about her car. The ride to the Police Station was quiet except for the sniffling that Stephanie could hear coming from the back seat.

"Aw Melanie, don't take it so hard," Stephanie said, making eye contact with her in the rear view mirror.

"That's easy for you to say," responded Melanie with another sniff. "You haven't been dumped by every man you have ever loved," she said in a small voice, her head hanging low as the tears streamed down her cheeks. Something tugged at Stephanie's heart. While she did not share Melanie's desire to be married, Stephanie did understand the need to be loved.

"We can get you re-bonded, and you will be out of jail before you know it." Stephanie tried to explain the procedure, attempting to make it sound as painless as possible so that Melanie would stop worrying. But she soon realized that there was nothing that she could say to make things seem any better to her.

"And then what?" Melanie whispered. "Nobody wants me. Nobody loves me." She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. "You might as well just lock me up and throw away the key, for all anyone cares." She nearly choked out the last few words, and remained silent as they entered the building and she was escorted into a holding cell.

Body receipt in hand, Stephanie stood near the door. The job was done. Why did she feel so rotten. It wasn't her fault that Melanie Winkelstein was broken, alone and hurting. The woman had skipped bail, what did she think was going to happen? She tried to remind herself that this same woman had resisted all of her attempts to bring her in peacefully. Stephanie knew she could get Connie to come in and get the paperwork done to re-bond Melanie as soon as possible. But nothing was making her feel any better.

Stephanie squared her shoulders, pulling herself up to her full height. She had only done her job, she was a bounty hunter, this is what she did. Shaking her head, she turned on her heel and quickly left the building. Stephanie maneuvered her little yellow, paint splattered car out of the parking lot. Body receipt in hand or not, this had not been a great morning for Stephanie.

Pulling into the flow of traffic, she was unable to shake the heavy feeling that had settled deep in her stomach. Thoughts of being awakened in the middle of the night flooded her mind. It still bothered her that she didn't know what it was that she had sensed last night. And now, to make matters worse, she suddenly had the feeling that she was being watched.

From his hidden vantage point, Vince watched Stephanie get into her car. She did not look particularly happy and that worried him. Well, that and the vibe he was getting that there was something not quite right around her today. There was not anything obvious, like someone stalking her or trying to sabotage her car, but he could definitely pick up on that strange feeling that the guys often got when she was in some kind of danger. As he watched her, he wondered if she was feeling it too. He did not like this, not one little bit.

I

His plan was perfect, he allowed an evil laugh to rumble in his chest. His only regret was that he would not be there to see it, as it unfolded day by day. The ultimate success of all his work depended on his anonymity right now. He could not be seen, so he remained hidden. Out where no one would ever think of looking for him.

That evil smile still lingered, as he narrowed his eyes and looked around the small cabin. Every surface was covered with details of the plan. He stared at his sketches, dark and bold that illustrated his pain, and at those photos of her face, reminders of the person he held responsible for all of his problems. He spent his hours perfecting each and every element of his payback. Miss Plum would learn her lesson. She would never put anyone else through the torture and pain that he had been forced to endure for so long. It was only a matter of time now.

II


	3. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

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Maybe it was because she was tired. Maybe it was the hazy light of the early morning. Maybe she was still worried about Ms 'Marry me Mel'. But something distracted Stephanie just long enough that she did not notice the group of suspicious looking boys standing down the street from the Tasty Pastry.

Stephanie had talked herself into employing some serious doughnut therapy to make her feel better this morning. It was still a little early, but the call she made to Connie, before leaving the police station, confirmed that she and Lula were already on their way into the office. Her plan was to pick up some breakfast and head over to Vinnie's. She really did not feel like being alone just now.

The line in the bakery extended all the way to the door. Stephanie eyed the doughnuts that she could see in the case as she inched closer to the front counter. The Boston crèmes were going fast, and she was hoping to get to them before they were all gone. Nearly twenty minutes later, she finally had her turn to pick out her selection.

Box in hand Stephanie pushed open the door with her shoulder. She was happy to finally be on her way, and she was more than ready to have a nice little chat with the girls. She couldn't wait to see Lula's hair and to find out how the date went last night.

Suddenly loud clicking sounds brought her attention to the circle of teenagers who had been standing on the opposite side of the road. These were the same kids who had watched her arrive, now they were advancing toward her and each of them had a paint ball gun aimed right at her.

At first Stephanie was too confused to be alarmed by this attack. But the moment she felt the sting of the first paint ball hitting her and splattering all over her shoulder, she knew something was all wrong. She ducked her head and ran to her car, but she did not make it before the barrage of balls transformed her formerly black clothes into a colorful kaleidoscope of bright neon splotches.

She watched as the attackers turned and ran, laughing and hollering. What had just happened? Stephanie did not recognize any of the boys here this morning. They were not Ritchie's friends. Who were they? And why were they shooting at her?

Sitting in her car, she watched them leave and let her heart rate come back to normal. Now that the fear had subsided somewhat, Stephanie was furious. She drove to the Bonds office, trying to figure out why this had happened. Was it a case of mistaken identity? They couldn't have been after her. She didn't even know them. By the time she reached the office, she had not come up with any answers and she was still angry about the painful stinging and the new mess she would have to clean up.

"Whoa!" Lula whistled through her teeth, as Stephanie walked through the door. "What happened to you _White_ Girl?" She laughed at her own joke with an exaggerated slap to the knee. With all the paint covering Stephanie, white was the only thing that Stephanie was not right now.

Connie looked up to see what she was talking about and started laughing. She had been the only one to see Stephanie after the attacks by Ritchie and gang, so she knew that this was a complete shock to Lula.

"Green," Connie said with another snicker.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"Green wins," Connie said, "More green paint than any other color. And then there's the pink, and the orange, and the blue…."

"Very funny," Stephanie was saying. She held up the box of doughnuts. "I was walking out of the Tasty Pastry when a group of about 6 or 7 young kids blasted me with their paint guns."

The moment Lula saw the paint splattered box, she reached out and grabbed at it. "Gimme, gimme," she said with an eager look in her eyes. Stephanie opened the box and placed it on the corner of Connie's desk and Lula pounced, grabbing two of her favorite doughnuts.

"Do you think it was Ritchie's gang again?" Connie asked. But Stephanie only shook her head.

"Nope, it wasn't them," she said. "I didn't recognize any of the kids today."

"Didn't that seem strange?" Connie asked. Stephanie gave her an exasperated look.

"I mean, I never see people with paint ball guns just walking around, there are places that they go to play with their paint balls." Connie said. She looked up at Stephanie after picking out, and biting into, the lemon filled Bismarck.

"You're right," Stephanie said. She had seen lots of kids with paintball guns over the past week, but they had all been Ritchie's buddies. All part of Ritchie's plan to not get caught. That couldn't be the same motivation for these kids this morning. She didn't even know who they were. Stephanie was shaking her head as she took a bite of the only Boston Crème that had been left at the bakery this morning. "So, who just goes around shooting paint balls at people?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Not at people," Lula's words came out a bit muffled, she had just taken a big bite out of her doughnut. "You!" she stated firmly, looking into Stephanie's eyes. Connie was nodding in agreement. It didn't have to make sense, so much of what happened to Stephanie never did.

Stephanie sighed, sinking down into the chair. It had already been a long week, and she didn't think she could deal with much more crazy, she just didn't have the energy. Suddenly she remembered one of the biggest reasons that she had come here today, and she pulled out the body receipt for Melanie. A bit of green paint smudged the corner and Connie smiled as Stephanie handed it to her. She was starting to build a collection of these receipts that were covered in paint.

"Melanie Winkelstein is waiting to be re-bonded." Stephanie said, looking up at Connie. "Is there any chance you could head over there now and take care of that?" she asked.

Arrangements were made for Lula to look after the office while Connie left to meet up with Melanie. It worked out for the best, Stephanie's visit with the girls would have been cut short anyway, she needed to get home and wash off the powdery paint that was starting to dry now and was making her skin itch. Puzzling all the way home over why this latest assault had happened, Stephanie's gut instinct was telling her that this was not right. Her senses were buzzing. Something was very, very wrong.

Did this have anything to do with what had awakened her last night? Was she being watched like she'd had the feeling of earlier this morning? She looked around, she could not see anything that looked out of place, but the feeling persisted. What was going on?

The long shower did nothing to calm her nerves. Once again Stephanie found herself deciding to stay at home for the rest of the day. She would just do some research on the remaining skips that needed to be picked up. She turned off her phone, and spread out the papers from the first file. "Time to get busy," she said. She found herself trying to justifying another day spent at home, and she just shook off the slight pangs of guilt. Because there was absolutely no way that she wanted to leave her apartment. Not feeling the way she did.

Once again, thoughts of Ranger came into her mind. She wished that she could see him, just talk to him. Things always seemed so much better when he was around. Again and again, she wished that he were here with her. Not knowing where he was, not knowing what he was going through, made her sick with worry. But not knowing when he would be back nearly drove her crazy.

"Steph." She scolded herself. "Stop it, just stop it." "He will come back, and then you can say all the things that you wanted to say before." She had been pacing around her small living room while this little conversation was going on, but she abruptly stopped in her tracks.

There it was, the thought she tried so hard to avoid. She never knew _if_ he would come back. How many times had he told her that most of his assignments were dangerous enough that he might not make it back? And now she was scared that these heavy feelings of foreboding that she'd been having lately might be telling her that this time he wouldn't. She would not be able to live with that. Her legs suddenly felt weak and nearly gave out on her. She sank down onto the couch and took a deep breath, trying not to cry.

III

Vince had made it back to RangeMan, after his Stephanie duty was over, with the intention of solving the paintball mystery. Standing behind Hal, he stared at the images on the computer screen. All the information that he'd had to share did not explain who the teenagers were that attacked Stephanie this morning. He was as confused about it as Stephanie was. They could explain away what Ritchie and his friends had done. But there was nothing connecting the kids today to Stephanie. How would they have even known that Stephanie was going to buy doughnuts this morning? Could it be explained away as just a coincidence? Vince sighed and turned away, he knew that something did not feel right. But he was at a loss to know what it was, or what they could do about it.

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	4. Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

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Rays of sunshine slanted their way into Stephanie's bedroom. Reluctantly she opened one eye, before closing it again and turning away from the offending glare. After a few more minutes of pretending to go back to sleep, she sighed and sat up. She had been having a dream, a really good dream about Ranger and she did not want it to end. While she couldn't go back to it, at least she still remembered it, and that made her happy.

A smile spread across her face. She had more than one reason to be happy this morning. Stephanie took a deep breath. The air freshener that she had found under the kitchen sink was filling the air with a fresh scent. She was waking up to an apartment that was now spic and span clean. She was reminded of the cleaning frenzy she got caught up in, after she had nearly driven herself crazy the day before.

After doing all the research that she possibly could, she still had hours left of her self-imposed confinement. Hours that she spent worrying about Ranger. She had started to feel a bit anxious and didn't know how to deal with it. So she'd popped _Ghostbusters_ into the VCR. But it couldn't hold her attention for long. Finally, after spying a dab of green paint on the bathroom doorknob, Stephanie was inspired to do a little cleaning. It rapidly turned into a massive overhaul of the entire apartment.

Cleaning was therapeutic. And, believe it or not, Stephanie was good at it. She was as thorough in her cleaning as she was in doing her research. Every inch of the apartment was now sparkling. Once again, the feeling of satisfaction for all her work made her happy. Stephanie stood and stretched. As she headed for the shower, she forgot all of the feelings of foreboding that she had had before. It was a new day, and she felt like she could go out and face the world again.

The first thing on her list this morning was a trip to the grocery store. She was running low or was completely out of almost everything that she needed. Rex had twitched his little nose at her and reminded her that he only had one grape left, and the small crust left from her toast was not much to go on. She promised him that she would be sure to pick up some of his favorite pellets and some yummy lettuce for him. That seemed to satisfy him, and he backed into his can to wait until she returned with the goodies.

List in hand, Stephanie said goodbye to Rex, and headed to the elevator. Her hand reached out to push the button to call the elevator to her floor. But then she thought better of it and her hand dropped. She pushed open the door to the stairwell and headed down, two steps at a time. She may not like to climb up stairs, but there was nothing wrong with running down them every once in a while.

Stephanie was humming as she reached her car. Not even the recent 'paint job' could upset her today. Her good mood carried her through the next hour of shopping. She was actually having a good time, and was pleasantly surprised by that fact. Normally shopping for anything other than clothes or shoes was a chore, done out of necessity. But today she was enjoying it, her new bright outlook influencing her mood.

Rex happily welcomed her back home. His whiskers twitched with excitement as Stephanie placed several food pellets and some green leafs into his dish. She filled his water and added another couple of raisins for dessert. He was in hamster heaven as he stuffed as much as he could into his cheeks and disappeared into the soup can.

Then Stephanie turned her attention to the pile of folders that was neatly stacked on the corner of the kitchen table. She lifted the top three files and shoved them into her bag. Now that the shopping was taken care of, her next stop today would be to the Above Average Taxi Co. The skip she needed to find was Dan Ferdon. He worked as their maintenance mechanic, and Stephanie hoped to find him quickly and take him in with as little fuss as possible.

Ferdon had been arrested for public intoxication and disturbing the peace. But through her research into him, she found that Dan was anything _but_ the loud and obnoxious drunk that was singing at the top of his lungs outside of his girlfriend's house, on the night he was arrested. He missed his court date because he had a pile up of repairs that needed to be done at work, and he forgot all about it. It was based on his usually quiet and gentle demeanor that Stephanie truly hoped that he would agree to voluntarily come in and get re-bonded.

When she pulled into the lot off of Tipton St, Stephanie was relieved to see Dan's car parked by the service garage. He was here, now all she had to do was escort him into the police station. "Yeah right, Steph, as if anything was ever that easy for you." Some of her optimism was weakening and she muttered the words as she got out of her car and approached the garage. She had timed it perfectly to be his lunch hour, and as she had expected, he was cleaning his hands, getting ready for lunch just as she approached him.

"Hey Dan," she greeted him cheerfully. He looked up at her, a bit startled. "I'm Stephanie Plum," she said, extending her hand. He took it, and shook hands with her as she kept talking. "You accidentally missed your court date, so I thought that we could quickly go down the station and get you re-bonded and set up a new date for you."

Their hands were still clasped together, and she made no move to let his hand go. Dan seemed confused. Then he did something that surprised Stephanie. He slowly started nodding his head.

"Okay, that sounds good," he said carefully, as if he were still thinking things over. "Can we get this done during the lunch break?" he asked. "I really got a lot of work to do today."

In response to his request, Stephanie grabbed her cell phone and called Connie. She arranged for her to meet them at the station. She smiled at Dan and pointed to her car. "All worked out, Connie will meet you there, and you will be back in no time," she said. Dan was following her out to the parking lot when he got a better view of the car she was moving towards. He hesitated and Stephanie thought that he might be changing his mind.

"That's your car?" he asked, looking horrified. He stopped completely, and just as Stephanie was about to reach for her cuffs, he grabbed her hand and led her to his car.

"Is it alright if we go in mine?" "I really don't want to be seen in that yellow nightmare you call a car," he said. This was unusual, but she had to see his point. His car was much nicer, and it was not splattered with paint. In another unusual move, he handed her his keys. "I'll even let you drive," he said.

Connie was there waiting for them. It was the quickest transaction that Stephanie had ever seen, and she got Dan back to the taxi company before anyone even missed him. She tossed his keys to him and smiled. "Don't miss the next court date, okay?" she said. Dan smiled sheepishly at her and gave her a mock salute.

"I'll be there," he said. Then he nodded his head and said "Thank you."

Watching him turn and disappear into the garage, Stephanie was stunned. She thought of just how strange this had all been. After a week of crazy skips, it was almost like she was dreaming. Dreaming, the word stuck in her mind, she had been doing a lot of that lately. A secret smile appeared as she thought about the dream she'd had last night. And now she felt like celebrating. She got into her embarrassing little car and drove straight to Pino's.

Of course it was still lunch time, so she had to park down the street. But that was okay. The smells that greeted her, as she left her car, tantalized her all the way into the restaurant. Pulling out her phone, Stephanie quickly asked the girls what they wanted, and less than thirty minutes later, she was headed back to her car with a takeout bag full of meatball subs. They smelled so good, she could hardly wait to get to the office to devour them.

Click, Click, Click. Stephanie heard the sounds just a split second before she felt the first paintball hit her leg. Of course, it was immediately followed by dozens of others and she was covered with paint by the time she reached the refuge of her car.

Taking just a moment to catch her breath, Stephanie looked out of the window. Who were these people? She did not recognize any of them. They were not Ritchie's friends and they were not the young punks who had attacked her yesterday. These guys seemed to be college age. They had done their damage, and were now turning to run away from the scene.

She watched them as they scattered, laughing and-high fiving each other as they fled. What was going on? Her heart was still racing, and the dark heavy feelings she had had before came rushing back. Not only was this not normal behavior, it felt more than wrong. She now knew that she was, indeed, being targeted, singled out for these attacks. But why?

III

The black SUV was just out of her line of vision. Roy was behind the wheel with his cell phone in his hand. "You won't believe what just happened," he said.

Roy was frustrated. He had watched the attack and knew that there was nothing that he could do about it. The group of people with paintball guns had appeared out of nowhere. The entire incident had taken less than 30 seconds. Even though he had immediately jumped out of the truck, he had not been able to get to any of the attackers. They scattered, taking off in all directions, disappearing into back lots and alleyways. The only evidence that they left behind was splattered all over Stephanie. There was nothing else to be found.

"She did not do anything," he said into the phone. "The girl is just a magnet for trouble," he concluded.

The tech savvy rangemen had accessed whatever footage they could from the neighborhood surrounding Pino's. All that they could find only confirmed what Roy had told them. The people appeared out of nowhere, they did not waste any time. The attack was quick, complete and almost too efficient. And then they were all gone. Someone was behind this. But who?

III

When she trudged into the office, Stephanie was ready to explode. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Lula looked up when the door opened, and started laughing before she could stop herself. "Oh, Steph," she said. "What?"… Where?" … "How?" … The words came out one by one, between the laughs.

Stephanie did not look pleased, and Lula tried to stop by taking a couple of deep breaths. Just then, Connie walked out of Vinnie's office. Stephanie glared at her, daring her to laugh. Connie smiled and simply said, "Orange." And the control, that Lula had fought so hard for, vanished and she let out a huge guffaw.

Connie crossed the room and sat down at her desk. "What's the story this time?" she asked. The anger had eased a bit, and her indignation melted, Stephanie did realize that she must look ridiculous. She still did not think it was all that funny, but she managed a small smile and held up the bag of sandwiches. As they ate, she told them of the series of events that led up to her being here covered in paint again.

"Sounds like, to me, they all just copycats," said Lula. Taking a big bite, she nodded firmly. She swallowed and finally concluded. "Ritchie Hamblin may have started something without even knowing it."

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	5. Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

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Deep in the thicket of trees, a light was glowing in the small rundown house with a tall pipe for a chimney and just one tiny window. If anyone had been able to see the flicker of light, they would have been shocked. No one had visited this part of the Pine Barrens for decades. In fact, it would have been impossible to find this little shack if you did not know exactly where to look for it. The weeds and underbrush had become so overgrown that the structure was hardly even recognizable. Vines crept up and over the roof, nearly covering the hut.

It was the perfect place to hide. No one ever came out here. Not on purpose. Stories of the Jersey Devil kept the superstitious away, and actual horrible events that had happened in the area over the years, kept the curiosity seekers at bay. All this made it the perfect hideout. He'd come out here every time he needed to get away.

Kerosene lamps lit the small space. Their beams focused on one wall that was now covered with photos and newspaper clippings. Scraps of paper had been tacked onto the other walls too; bold sketches from the mind of a mad man were juxtaposed with scripture references from the bible. The effect was terrifying, and haunting. The primitive setting of the shack did not reflect the sophistication of the plans that were being made here. Neither did they reveal the time line of those plans.

A large man dwarfed the space. Hunched over the small table set in the center of the space, his huge hands delicately and meticulously cleaned the small arsenal of weapons laid out in front of him. He worked with an intensity that few would ever understand. And only he knew when the time would be right to finally make his move.

A career criminal, he had been suspected of many crimes. But he had only been caught once. Unbelievably, he had been able to set bail and was set free. By the time he had missed his scheduled court appearance, he was almost ready to leave the area for good. As it turned out, one person got in his way.

His eyes drifted over to the wall again. Stephanie Plum, that bumbling bounty hunter just didn't know when to stop. She'd found him, just before he could take off. He vowed that day that she would pay for her actions. A wicked smile played across his broad face. He had thought of nothing else for over a year now. His hatred of her had intensified with every day, with every minute. All he could think about was fulfilling his promise.

His focus so intent, so clear that when he saw his opportunity open up, he seized it with both hands. His escape from prison had been glossed over in the news. There were too many other disasters and distractions to report on. Reporters did not have the time nor the inclination to cover his story. High crime and hurricanes took precedence over the escape of a prisoner. And since then, they had had even more crazy crimes to report about. Everyone wanted to get in on the Bombshell Bounty Hunter story.

The absurdity of it all did not escape his attention. It couldn't have been better if he had planned it himself. The large man laughed out loud. Oh wait, he did plan it himself! It was almost too easy. Everyone had underestimated him. The penal system. The prison guards. His court appointed lawyer. Everyone. Everyone except Stephanie Plum. She had always taken him at his face value.

Reluctantly he respected her for believing that he was as ruthless as he had been known to be. He knew that she had carefully studied him. Her attention to the smallest of details had allowed her to plan her capture of him in such a calculating and brilliant way. Yes, he had been impressed by her. He had to respect her, and he did. But that did not mean that he liked her, far from it. She still had to pay. There was just no way around that.

The little silver tab on the zipper of his large backpack glimmered in the flickering light, catching his attention. He looked over at it. Sitting next to the door, the pack was filled and ready for the war he was about to wage on the bounty hunter that he had hated for so long.

Finally the weapons were ready. Slowly standing to his full height, the man filled the tiny space, nearly brushing the ceiling with the top of his head. He moved his head to the side, cracking his neck with a loud sharp sound. He repeated the action on the other side and then shifted his shoulders. Each movement was deliberate, and menacing. His anger continually rolled off of him in waves.

All of those would-be crime gangs in Trenton had received his 'suggestions' with enthusiasm. It had been so easy to control their thoughts, their actions. They had done the job he wanted them to, and quite admirably if the news coverage was any indication. But he had hidden his true intentions long enough.

He was ready to bring justice to the one person that would never be expecting it. He knew all about Stephanie Plum now. He knew that once she had done her job, she let it go, not giving any more thought to the FTA's whose lives she had ruined.

Restless energy was pouring through him. A duffle bag of weapons hung from one shoulder and his back pack from the other. He placed one of the kerosene lamps on the floor, and with one swift kick propelled it into the wall of pictures. It ignited immediately. Flames burned through the faces in the photos and then raced up to the roof line, consuming everything in its path.

What a sight to behold. He took several steps back from the burning structure. The fury of the flames destroyed all the evidence that he had ever been here. He watched as they danced feverishly at the height of their passion, only to be instantly smothered as the surrounding vegetation collapsed in on them.

The smoke from this dying fire spiraled up into the night sky. If anyone could have seen it, the description would just be added to the folklore surrounding the Pine Barrens. And the myth of the ol Jersey Devil would be alive and well. The truth behind the destruction would remain hidden in the ashes.

The glowing embers cast eerie shadows as he moved away. Finally he turned and put the bags into his truck. He drove away without another look, leaving behind the smoking rubble. No more hiding. His part of the plan was now in play. Soon Ms. Plum would feel the wrath of this man. Hers would be a slow and very painful torture. A twisted and evil smile emerged. Yes, he nodded, she must suffer for her sins.

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	6. Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

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Stephanie's eye grew wide as she contemplated the probability of Lula's statement. If it was true, there would never be any way to know who was watching her, lying in wait for their turn to attack her. But she still did not know the 'why'. Why go to all the trouble to get the equipment and run around town looking for her? It can't be that much fun. What's in it for them?

These questions plagued her mind for the next couple of weeks. Showers and frequent trips to dinner at her mother's house, so that she could do her laundry, were getting to be the norm as she was being barraged with paint balls nearly every day.

Stephanie stepped out of the shower, no colorful paint to wash off yet today, but there were colors of another sort that she had to deal with. The rotating collection of bruises she now sported, showed everything from deep purple and blue from the new hits, to the mottled pukey yellow and green of the fading dots, and everything in between.

The ringing of her phone dragged her attention from the depressing sight in the mirror. Stephanie ran to grab the phone from the bedside table. "Yo," she said breathlessly.

"Hey, little girl," Tank's deep voice boomed over the line. "I'm ready to send out a couple of my men to keep you company today," he said, almost hesitantly. They had had this and similar conversations on a daily basis. He wanted to protect her and find the creeps that were keeping this paintball thing going, and he wanted her to know that they were with her. It didn't seem to be enough for the guys to just follow her anymore. But, as usual, she did not want to burden the rangemen with another one of her ongoing disasters.

"No, Tank," she said again. "Don't send anybody, I will be fine." She sighed, a sad sound that Tank did not miss. He understood her reluctance, he knew Stephanie well enough to know that she didn't like to put anyone out, but he had to make her understand that this was not her regular type of crazy situation. They had found that none of the groups that attacked her were the same twice. Word on the street was that everyone who wanted to was taking their shot at the bounty hunter.

The theory was that if they kept her busy this way, she would not be able to capture any more of the FTA's that she was after. It had turned into a collective effort of those belonging to the criminal element in the city, and there were just too many of them to be able to watch them all.

Lula had been on to something when she had speculated that these people were all copycats following the actions of Ritchie's little gang. In fact, the police and the reporters were all referring to them as the "CopyCat Gangs". It was getting frustrating for everyone involved.

"Stephanie," Tank said, taking a deep breath. She knew she was in trouble now that he had used her full name. "I would feel so much better if I knew that you were not alone when these attacks happened." He paused for dramatic effect and then continued. "You don't want me to get ulcers by worrying about you… do you?"

He heard her take in a sharp breath. Yeah, he had her nowand he knew it. Stephanie had a hard time refusing him when he made it sound like doing so would cause the burden that she was so intent on avoiding in the first place. "Okay, okay, you win!" she said. "You can send someone over."

"Good." Tank said with a definite smile in his voice. "Cause Cal and Hector are waiting for you in your parking lot." Stephanie took a peek out of the window, sure enough, there was the black truck, already sitting out there. She heard Tanks deep chuckle in her ear. She was about to tell him what she thought. Then his voice, all serious, said, "Thanks, Steph." He was gone before she could say another word.

"Oh well, looks like I will have some company today after all." she muttered, and quickly got herself ready so poor Hector and Cal wouldn't have to wait too long for her to get going.

Although the purpose of these attacks was supposedly to keep Stephanie from bringing in any more skips, it was not having the desired effect. Between the assaults, she was still managing to collect her body receipts. She had just called Connie to let her know that she was grabbing lunch on her way in to deliver yet another receipt, when the next ambush took place.

She pulled up to Giovichinni's Deli to grab the goodies to take with her for a late lunch. The black truck stopped behind her and the doors of both her car and the truck opened at the same time. Stephanie finger waved to the guys. "I won't be more than a few minutes," she told them and quickly disappeared through the door.

Cal and Hector exchanged looks and immediately began to scout the area for signs of the copycats. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, they moved closer to the large plate glass window where they could watch out for Stephanie. The same moment that she stepped through the door with two bags loaded with takeout boxes, several cars came screeching down the street. All three of them looked up and saw the next copycat gang.

All of the people in the cars had plastic 'Bill Clinton' masks on their faces and paintball guns pointing at Stephanie. The bombardment started immediately, and lasted only as long as it took for the cars to drive quickly past. But it was long enough to cover Stephanie and Cal and Hector from head to toe.

"Dios," Hector mumbled, "Esto duele mucho!" Stephanie looked at him. "It hurts," he translated for her. She just nodded. Yeah, it really does.

Cal was mad, there had been no sign of any of these copycatters when they arrived. How did they know where Stephanie was? What were they doing to coordinate the attacks so precisely? He did not say anything, but the anger burned in his eyes. Stephanie looked up at him. She knew just how he felt! She had been mad too, every time it had happened. But now the outrage was not just for her, she was furious that they had also hit Cal and Hector. "I'm so sorry," she said in a small voice. How could this happen? She handed one of the food bags to Hector and hugged the other as she stalked over to her car.

"I've lost count of how many times this has happened," she was saying as they walked into the office.

"Exactly 17, if you include the three attacks by Ritchie and his friends," Connie promptly answered.

"Blue again," Lula called out. They all watched as Connie grabbed a blue marker from the cup on her desk and walked over to the calendar on the wall. She filled in the square and turned with a smile. Behind her was what looked like a small patchwork quilt. Every day had been filled in, each square representing another attack and the predominate color of the paint balls that had been used. Stephanie rolled her eyes, and looked over at her rangemen, as if to see what their reaction was going to be.

As if only now recognizing that Cal and Hector were also covered in paint, both Connie and Lula became speechless. Stephanie nodded. Yeah, it had gotten this bad.

Connie finally said what everyone had been thinking. What Tank had not put into words yet, but what was the driving force behind sending his men out with her.

"Any day now, all the crazies out there will be pointing their guns at you too and there won't be any paint in them." She sat down heavily, as if the weight of the words she had spoken was just too much for her.

Stephanie suddenly felt nauseous. She set the bag down on the desk and pulled out the body receipt from her pocket. She placed it on the desk in front of Connie. Turning, she walked through the door. No one said anything more as Cal and Hector followed her out.

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	7. Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

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Since that phone call with Tank, weeks ago, each of the men at RangeMan had had their turn as Stephanie's bodyguards. And much to Stephanie's dismay, they had all been close enough to her to be pelted with paint balls and covered with paint, at least once. It was becoming a daily occurrence, and every time Stephanie got just a little bit more agitated. She could have taken the assaults herself, her life always seemed to include a bit of the crazy. But when the guys were being attacked too, she became angry. She just wished that she knew how to make it stop.

Ella was having her laundry skills put to the test at RangeMan, just like Helen was being challenged every time Stephanie brought over her paint stained clothes to get washed during her dinner visits. With every incident, the stress levels for all concerned were rising.

The light at the end of Stephanie's tunnel came in the form of a phone call early one morning. She'd had a restless night. She had been having trouble sleeping for a while now, and it seemed that she had just been able to fall asleep when the phone on the table, next to her bed, started buzzing. Her hand flew out from under the covers to silence the offending noise. Luckily, she had been just conscious enough to look at the caller ID before she ignored the call and turned off the phone.

"Ranger?" she whispered, sitting up, now fully awake. "Ranger, are you back?" She could barely talk, she tried to swallow, her voice felt tight and dry.

"Babe," said the voice on the line. "I'm sorry that I woke you," he said, but his voice did not sound the least bit sorry, she knew he really wasn't and neither was she. There was nothing that she needed more than to hear the sound of his voice at that moment.

"I'm not there yet. I just had to call and tell you that I'm on my way." After only a slight pause he added. "Can't wait to see you…" it seemed all that he was capable of saying for the moment.

Her emotions were flooding through her, making it hard to get control of her ability to speak. All of those words that she had wanted to say to him for so long, remained silent, which was okay because they were meant to be said in person, anyway. But she found that almost all words were failing her right now, her heart was pounding so hard.

"When…" was all she managed to say. But somewhere in their minds they both knew that was the most important question of all.

"I've got some business with Vinnie, I'll meet you at the office in a couple of hours," he said softly. Unspoken, but just under the surface, were all of the words they both longed to say to each other. But they would be together soon, and then they would have the chance to share all of their thoughts and feelings and words. Soon. Now that was the word that Stephanie clung to with all her heart. Soon.

III

The echoes of their voices over the line brought a smile to the man's face. Technology was such a marvelous thing, he mused. His use of the very latest in technology was his edge, what had always set him apart from all of the amateur criminals out there. Granted it did take a certain amount of specialized knowledge to tap into the conversation on a single phone signal, but that was old hat to him now. He had isolated Stephanie Plum's cell phone signature and had been listening to every phone conversation she'd had since the day he escaped from prison.

There were no secrets in Stephanie's life that he did not know. She was the one who provided every detail that he needed to formulate his game plan. His wicked smile would have scared the devil himself. He was not disappointed. Once again, the information he needed was handed to him on a silver platter. It was time, his plans had all led up to this moment and he intended to make the most of it. Soon. Very soon.

III

There was no getting back to sleep for Stephanie this morning, and she did not mind one bit. Her thoughts were all on Ranger and the moment that they would finally be together again. The time seemed to float by, her anxiety was just a memory now. The heavy feeling in the bottom of her stomach evaporated. No worries, no fears, just the knowledge that she would no longer have to rely on dreams to be with the man she truly loved. Ranger was back, nothing else in the world mattered.

Stephanie waved at the men in the black truck as she made her way to her car that was stuck in the back of the parking lot. Yeah, the only space she could ever find was next to the big, stinky garbage bin, but it did not bother her this morning. Nothing could touch the happy mood she'd been in since her early morning phone call.

Her little yellow, paint splotched car and the big shiny black truck pulled out of the parking lot, one after another, and made a bee-line directly to the office. It was a perfect morning, even the traffic signals knew that it was a special day, and Stephanie marveled that she had not hit one single red light along the way.

She pulled her car into the space in front of the office, directly behind the black car already parked there. Stephanie flew out of her car, running to the door, not able to wait a single second more. Mere steps away, she reached out her hand to push open the door.

Pain slammed through her side, her body twisted around and she was hit with another sharp blast that tore through her shoulder. Her brain couldn't comprehend what was happening. There had been no clicking…. She had heard no noise at all. Her focus had been on getting through that door, to see the man that she knew was just inside. It was all that she could think of, and it was all she wanted to do.

If her brain had registered that she had been hurt, she ignored it. Nothing was going to stop her from seeing Ranger. She plowed through the door, eyes searching through the tears from the blinding pain. 'Ranger.' It was the last conscious thought she had.

All eyes turned to the door when it burst open. "What color…" Lula started to say, but the words were swallowed up in a gasp when she saw Stephanie. There was blood all over, seeping into her clothes and dripping onto the floor. Lula jumped up from the couch and then froze, she didn't know what to do. Stephanie's legs wobbled, her eyes closed.

"Red!" Connie screamed, jumping up from her desk and rushing to Stephanie. "Too much red," she yelled, as Stephanie collapsed to the floor in front of her. She knelt down grabbing at her, "911" she managed to say, stealing a glance at Lula to be sure she heard her, and nodding as she saw her grab the phone. Blood was everywhere, and Connie hated that she had been right. It had happened, the dangerous crazies were out now.

Ranger heard the commotion and raced out of Vinnie's' office. "Steph!" he pulled her into his arms. This couldn't be! Her eyes were closed, her breathing was shallow. 'Not the way it should be,' his heart yelled, 'this is not how it should be.'

"Babe," he whispered, as the door flew open behind him and two men in black pushed through. They stopped, clearly in shock.

What had happened in the split second that it had taken for Stephanie to run through the door? How could any of this happen? The men turned and immediately started the search for the person who had shot Stephanie. They all knew, somehow, that this was part of some plan, a grand scheme that had been played out for over a month now. Someone had orchestrated the whole thing, and none of the rangemen would rest until that person was found. And punished.

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	8. Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

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"If he had wanted her dead, she would be dead," Bobby said, again. This had been an ongoing discussion between the men for the past several hours. "These are all flesh wounds. Intended to damage, certainly, and to inflict pain, definitely, but they are not kill shots."

"You have to be a practiced marksman to place these shots so precisely,' agreed Tank.

Ranger nodded. As much as it had been a relief that Stephanie had not been badly hurt, this information did nothing to ease his worry of the situation. Stephanie had a crazy mad man after her again, but this one was exceptionally skilled and had a definite agenda. There had been no sign of him near the office, he had left no clues behind. He was good, and because of that fact, he was the worst kind of bad guy to have to deal with. He was careful and skilled and patient. And he had a plan. She would not be safe out on the streets. Not with a hundred body guards. Not even with Ranger himself constantly by her side.

There was only one solution for this problem, and they all were pretty sure that they knew how Stephanie would feel about it. But it was something that needed to be addressed immediately. They couldn't keep her in the hospital indefinitely, she was patched up and healing now, and the doctor was ready to release her at any time.

She had gained consciousness shortly after arriving in the ER. But the medication they had given her for the pain made her drowsy and she had spent most of the time drifting in and out of sleep. Ranger had not left her side, and she had had a full contingency of body guards stationed all over the hospital. Now Stephanie was awake and asking to go home. No more waiting, Ranger had to talk to her. Right now.

"Steph," he began, reaching for her hand and holding it with both of his. "We need to get you out of here soon," he said, and she nodded. That is exactly what she wanted to hear. Stephanie squeezed his hand, what she had to say was going to be difficult, but she had thought long and hard about it. Taking a deep breath, she jumped right in to it.

"Ranger," she said softly, turning toward him slightly. "I don't…" the pain in her side made her stop and she had to take a deep breath to continue. This was harder than she thought in more ways than one, Stephanie was suddenly worried that she was being too assuming. They had not yet had the chance to talk, to say the words to each other that they each needed to hear. But she needed to at least let him know what she was worried about. Even if it meant that she was being pushy. But she did not want to be alone right now, so she forced herself to say the words, "I don't want.."

His concern for the pain he could see in her face, and his desire to keep her safe took over and he interrupted her. "It's not safe at your apartment," he said, and not waiting for her response he continued. "The only place we can keep trouble away from you is at RangeMan."

He took a breath to say more, but before he could she smiled up at him. Her bright blue eyes sparkled, her hand tightened around his again. He noticed that her shoulders had relaxed, releasing the tension she had built up from her nervousness.

"Can we pick up Rex on the way there?" she asked.

If he had been expecting a long and detailed argument from her, he would have been surprised. But this time, somehow, Ranger knew that she truly understood the danger she could be in. He figured that getting shot, after a nearly month of being plastered with paint balls, had been enough for her, and she didn't want anymore.

Would it have also surprised him to know that Stephanie had already made the decision to ask to stay at RangeMan? Could he understand that she saw this as the solution because she was angry that of all of the guys had been pulled into her crazy situation? Getting shot had changed everything for her. Not because bullets had replaced the paint balls that were being shot at her, but because Ranger was back. And she was not going to take the chance that he would be hurt too, just by being near her.

Ranger was still staring at her, with a perplexed look on his face. Bobby chose that minute to walk in. Seeing Ranger without his blank face, and Stephanie with a smile, no… make that a big grin on hers, made him wonder what was going on. Before he had a chance to ask, a nurse followed him into the room and picked up the chart from the slot at the end of the bed. She was starting the discharge procedure. He looked up at Ranger who now just nodded as he let go of Stephanie's hand so that the nurse could get around him. They both walked out into the hall closing the door behind them.

He looked at Bobby and started talking immediately. "Send a couple of guys to Stephanie's apartment to pack up some of her things, and to grab the hamster." Bobby nodded, and remained silent as Ranger continued.

"We need to let Ella know that we are bringing her home with us." He hesitated. "Tell her that Stephanie will be with me on seven." Bobby didn't even raise an eyebrow, he only allowed a quick nod.

"We need to start soon, to send out the trucks as decoys," Ranger was saying as Tank walked down the hall and caught the end of that statement. He nodded at Ranger, and then at Bobby. Then he motioned to the men standing there, guarding Stephanie's door.

"Hal, Woody, you go get Lester and Cal, they are down near the elevator. You all need to coordinate your departures and the routes that you will take with the guys in the waiting room." The men left and Tank turned to Ranger.

"What kind of resistance did you get from her?" he asked with a half-smile playing on his lips.

"Not this time," Ranger answered, earning confused looks from both Tank and Bobby. "She agreed." He sighed slightly, and took a deep breath. "I think this one has really got her scared." He shook his head. "You know things are bad when_ Stephanie_ gets scared."

Now Tank and Bobby were also shaking their heads. It _was_ bad, and they had no idea who they were up against. There had been no clues left behind to let them know who had shot at Stephanie. And they were still trying to get information from every source possible to find out who was behind the attacks on her. None of the intel was making any sense and everyone shared the same frustration.

"She is only willing to hide out at RangeMan because she is worried that one of us will get caught in the crossfire," said Tank thoughtfully. "You are right, this is bad if she thinks that we can't stop the guy."

"Let's just get her safely home first," Bobby spoke up. "Then we can worry about what we will do to the guy who is behind this."

Tank nodded and reached for his cell phone. Lester informed him of the decoy plans, and that everything was now in motion. Hal and Woody had been the first to bring their black truck to the emergency doors. Several more were on their way.

Most of the guys from RangeMan were here at the hospital. Some taking up guard duty in key spots around the building. Others hovering in the waiting room to hear word about Stephanie's condition. She was their friend, they were all worried about her and they all shared a deep anger that someone had been able to hurt her.

Every one of them took up their places in the plan to get Stephanie to the safety of the RangeMan building as quickly as possible. A wheelchair was pushed up to the black truck. All of the guys that were not in trucks, were standing outside the doors of the emergency room, effectively creating a solid wall that no one could see through. This scene was replayed several times, in the hopes that if anyone was watching, they would not know which truck Stephanie actually was travelling in.

The elaborate performance was not necessary. The man they needed to protect her from knew exactly where she was going. That knowledge was delivered by Stephanie herself, in a phone call to her mother that lasted not more than ten seconds. Once again, they had underestimated him. He put his equipment away as soon as the call had ended. It was just too easy. He almost felt sorry for the poor fools that thought they could protect her from him. They had no idea what they were up against.

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	9. Chapter 9

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Chapter 9

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He had played this game long enough. As much as he had loved to make her suffer, knowing that she had been tortured day after day, he had come here to exact his revenge and that would consist of much more than throwing a few paint balls or a couple of innocent bullets at her.

His eyes narrowed as he thought of all of the suffering she had caused him. It was her fault that he had been caught. Her fault that he had been thrown in prison. Her fault that he'd had to fight to defend himself every single day he'd been in that dark and horrible place. Her fault that he'd suffered the mental anguish of being locked up like an animal.

The look on his face was dark and ominous. He hated her, had hated her more with each passing moment. His breathing increased, his blood pulsed through his veins. The thrill was part of the game. And he had enjoyed playing. But he knew time was nearing an end.

He had to hurry to get into place. This was his moment, his chance to make Ms. Plum ultimately pay for her crimes. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his body. The high made him giddy, he allowed what would amount to a small smile. On him it looked creepy and threatening, almost crazy. Then, as if to confirm that impression, the evil laugh started deep in his gut.

"Wmmwahhh Hah hah hah!" it gained momentum. "Wmwah hah hah hah hah!" Deep and loud. Dr Evil had nothing on him, and he found he could not stop. The laughs intensified until finally he forced himself to repress the urges. He took a deep breath, he was close now. Time to set his final plan into motion. And then he would be on his way. Free from her at last.

He hid the car. Grabbing the back pack he flung it over one shoulder as he pulled out the duffle bag and ran to get everything in place. His heart was racing. He knew he had just a few minutes to get it all set up. His evil smile in place, he truly thrived on the thrill of the game. The end would be spectacular for the bounty hunter. Probably more than she deserved. He shrugged his shoulders slightly as he opened the duffle bag and pulled out the first set of equipment. She deserved to die a slow and painful death, to pay for all of the suffering he had gone through. But, the time was up, he had no more patience to play around with Miss Stephanie Plum.

With a speed and finesse that no one would have expected from a man his size, he went about setting the scene for her demise. He approached the back of the large red brick building that housed RangeMan Inc. He had done his homework, he knew that none of the men ever used the front entrance on the other side of the building. Every RangeMan truck entered through the secured gates into a private underground parking structure here at the back. And it was here that they would all see the spectacular death of the bounty hunter. He looked at each of the security cameras. He had calculated the areas that were covered, and he stayed clear of them. He was able to do his work just out of sight of the men inside the building.

Down the street from the security gate, he set up his first trap. Oh how he loved the ease and convenience of technology. He placed a couple of little black boxes directly across from each other, hidden between several parked cars that lined either side of the street. Once in place, he activated them and created a laser beam that stretched across the road. The moment the stream of light was broken, it would set off a series of events that no one would be expecting.

Next, he rapidly moved to the security gates. On the street outside of the entrance, he randomly arranged several small flat disks on the ground. These disks were designed to blend in with the color and texture of the surrounding asphalt and, once in place, they became nearly invisible to the eye. Another little surprise for Stephanie and her friends.

He spent only a minute or two more putting the rest of the devices in place. Running now, he got himself in place to watch for the black trucks that would be returning soon. He allowed a small laugh as he thought about the futile diversion that they had planned for him. The decoys were just a waste of time, and they did not even know it yet. He was still smiling as he pulled out a rifle and carefully attached the scope to the top. Closing one eye he looked through the scope scanning the area.

He rolled his head from side to side, cracking his neck. An unconscious movement as he readied himself for the final showdown. Suddenly, a movement caught his eye. 'No, no, no.' The words rang out in his head. This could not be. It would ruin everything.

She was here early. Why was she here? He had been watching this building for weeks, and his surveillance showed that this woman walked her dogs every day. Regular as clockwork. But not this early, never this early. She shouldn't be here for hours. This was not part of his scheme, but there was not one thing that he could do about it. Not in time to salvage the plan. All he could do is watch with a horrifying dread. He continued to follow her steady progression up the street. Anger mingled in with the tension.

At the end of the long block, Bobbie Pennington struggled to keep control over the three large dogs that she walked every day. Her arms strained to hold onto the leashes that were being pulled in three different directions. She was almost no match for them, together they outweighed her by nearly 50 pounds. The dogs were restless. They could not wait to get to the park that was just another two blocks away.

She could not blame them. She would hate to be cooped up in an apartment building most of the day too. Again, she thought that it was not right to own such big dogs if you could not give them a big yard to play in. But it was not her job to pass judgment, she had just agreed to let them come with her to run and play in the park.

Once more the dogs tried to break free from their restraints. Bobbie twisted the leather straps around her wrist to get a better grip, and whistled to get their attention. They had been especially restless for some reason today. That was why she had suggested that she take them out early. They needed to expend some energy before they all went crazy.

"Okay guys, we're almost there," she said, trying to sooth them with her soft voice. "Hang in there just a few minutes more." They seemed to know exactly what she was saying and in unison, this time, they bounded forward, excited that they were getting closer to the park. And their freedom.

Running past the row of parked cars, Bobbie briefly caught the flash of a red glow reflecting off of one of the dog's collars. Before she could even wonder what it was, all hell broke loose, effectively diverting her attention. Down the street in a parking garage, something was exploding. Billowing clouds poured out, filling the air with thick, acrid smoke.

The dogs were spooked and started to run, jerking her forward with them. With her arm so securely tangled in the leashes, she almost tripped and fell, but managed to keep her legs under her as they now raced forward right into the thickest part of the smoke. Her eyes were stinging, and her lungs were burning. She was crying and coughing and trying desperately to get the dogs away from there, when bright lights flashed in front of her.

The dogs twisted and pulled at the straps that kept them attached to her. They were all scared, and with every motion it seemed that more and more of the lights kept going off. The flashes only served to increase the panic in the poor dogs. Bobbie's arm was yanked around, the straps that had been wrapped around her wrist pulled in a painful jerk, and this time she lost her balance. As she fell to the ground, their attempts to break free finally worked, and the dogs ran quickly down the street, their leashes trailing behind them. They left Bobbie behind, her head gushing blood, a result of the blow to her forehead when it hit the asphalt. She was stunned, but not quite knocked out. But she was having difficulty moving.

From her vantage point on the ground. She watched the dogs moving away from her down the street. As if it were all in slow motion, she saw them disappear. Vaguely she noticed that the smoke had thinned out. A part of her brain even noticed that she was no longer coughing. It was a strange sensation. All of her senses were heightened, she could see with such clarity.

The flash of a reflection of light from across the street, made her head turn sharply to see what it was. The movement only hurt her injury and she laid her head down and closed her eyes. She smelled the smoke, it reminded her of summer, of the 4th of July celebrations at home. Her brother and his friends would always light those stupid 'snake' fireworks. They would grow long and twist around like a snake writhing on the ground. And they would stink. She had always hated those, but that's what it smelled like right now.

She could hear the dogs barking, and the sounds of an alarm going off. In fact several alarms seemed to be ringing. Was it real or in her head, she did not know. But they now sounded far away. The noise was receding, she felt it slip away and then it was dark. She had fainted.

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Several men in black rushed forward into the street. Something had set off the sensitive alarms in the parking structure and they had come to investigate. The haze of smoke had dissipated and they immediately saw the girl lying on the street at the entrance to the garage.

Just then, the first black truck drove down the street. Vince stopped the truck and rushed to see what was going on. They did not have long before Stephanie would be here and he was not willing to have any problems when she arrived. The sight of the girl in the middle of a pool of blood nearly stopped him in his tracks. What had happened here? He looked up at Chet and asked the question with his eyes.

Before anyone could answer, the girl gasped. The men all looked at her in surprise. Her eyes flew open.

Vince was down on his knee immediately, staring into those huge brown eyes, as they met his and held.

Another truck pulled up and Bobby got out, running to the scene. He knelt down and examined the gash on her forehead.

"Can we move her," Vince asked, without looking away. She looked so fragile, he was afraid he might hurt her if he touched her.

Bobby nodded, "Yeah. We need to clear the street as quickly as possible," he said. But before they could make a move to pick her up, her eyes grew wide and she tried to speak but she only made a strangled sound in her throat. Then she grabbed at Vince, pulling him down on top of her. That got the attention of every man there.

"What the hell?" Vince muttered, just as the bullet hit the ground just inches away from where he was now laying. If she hadn't pulled him down, Vince knew that he would have been shot.

Everyone was now in motion. Bobby pulled himself up, and Vince got up and grabbed the girl in one fluid, motion. They all saw the next reflection from the building across the street. And at least one of them recognized it as the sun glinting off of the scope of a rifle. They moved fast, another bullet missing its mark as it blasted a hole into the asphalt.

As quickly as Vince and Bobby rushed to get the girl inside the building, several other men in black were racing to investigate the flash they had seen across the street. But it was silent now. They would not find the shooter or anything that would help them figure out who it was.

III

He was furious. In less than a minute, this one girl had ruined everything. This was to have been Stephanie's final moment. He knew that she was going to show up any time now. He liked to be in control, to play with his victims. He had arranged everything to cause such havoc, he wanted Stephanie to panic and feel the terror of it all before he shot her, this time to kill.

He could see her in the crosshairs. "She just had to go and get hurt," he muttered. If she had just kept going, gotten out of the way, he could have salvaged the situation. But there she was lying right at the entrance of the garage. It hadn't been enough for her to set off all special effects he had planned for Stephanie. His irritation increased. As he trained the scope on her face again, she moved. Oh good, maybe she would get up and leave, he let himself think. But instead, she swung her head in his direction and looked right at him. He pulled the rifle to his chest and sat back.

She had seen him. That was impossible. He had planned every detail, no one should be able to notice him here. Looking around him, he cursed her. He cursed the sun, he cursed the breeze kicking up and blowing the branches of the nearby tree, and most of all he cursed Stephanie. In a silent rage, he stuffed all of his weapons back into the duffle bag. All except for the rifle, it had the scope on it and he wanted to get just one more look at the scene that had been so completely destroyed. The backpack was on his back, and the duffle now slung over his shoulder when he aimed the scope in her direction one more time.

Men dressed in black were coming out of the parking garage, a black truck pulled up. He shook his head. Stephanie would be here soon, but the timing was all off now. She had missed the show. It was not how he envisioned it, but maybe he could still salvage the part of the plan where he saw her dead!

More men in black jumped out of the trucks that were showing up. He looked again at the girl. There were two men next to her now, maybe they could move her and get her out of the way before Stephanie arrived. He could still fulfill his promise today. In his excitement his finger jerked, moving just a hair on the trigger. A shot blasted out and he knew it was all over, he had given away his location. He shot one more round just out of spite, then he turned quickly to leave.

He did not wait to see if the shot hit a mark. He had been looking at the girl, at them men around her. It could have been aimed at any one of them, it could have killed one of them. But he was not interested in that. His plan to rid this world of the bounty hunter today was busted. He had to leave now. Scooping up the shells and brushing away the footprints in the dust as he went, he fled. Only moments ahead of the rangemen, he was now gone. But this was not over. A new plan was forming in his head. No matter what had happened here today, he would figure out a way to kill Stephanie Plum.

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	10. Chapter 10

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Chapter 10

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Ranger was confused when their truck turned the corner and he could see four other black trucks all stopped in a line outside of the entrance to the garage. He had Rafael turn around immediately and they sped away from the scene. Pulling his phone out, he called Tank.

"What the hell is going on there?" he asked in a low voice that barely concealed his irritation.

Tank had received a complete report of all that they knew about the incident the second that he had arrived. He concisely relayed the information to Ranger.

"It has been cleared and is safe for you to bring Stephanie home," he said.

Moments later, all of the black trucks were pulling into the garage. The area surrounding the building had been secured, and several patrols had been set up to keep guard. None of the men were happy with the situation. Their frustration showing only in the intensity with which they continued to search every possible lead to find the person responsible for Stephanie's recent attack.

"This was supposed to be the safe place to bring her Tank," Ranger said, pacing his office. "I told her that it was the only place we could keep trouble away from her." He stopped and looked at his friend. "You saw her face, Steph has never been this scared."

"It still is the safest place for her to be," insisted Tank. "The situation is under control, he won't ever have the chance to get anywhere near her again."

Upstairs, in Ranger's apartment, Stephanie was resting. Ghostbusters was playing in the background, but she was not paying any real attention to it. Images of the chaos that they had come home to kept playing in her mind. The residual haze of the smoke bombs had left an eerie taint to the atmosphere. The pile of sophisticated equipment, that the guys had gathered up from the area, told her that the man behind this probably had a lot more up his sleeve and she did not even want to know what else he had in store for her.

Most troubling of all had been the large puddle of blood she had seen on the street. Bobby had tried to explain to her that head injuries typically bled a lot, and that the girl who had been hurt was recovering just fine now. She was resting in his office.

Although she was still in pain and was supposed to be resting herself, Stephanie could not stay up here not knowing what had happened to the poor girl. Moving carefully, she grabbed the key fob from the side table in the hall, and left the apartment. The elevator doors opened and she headed down to visit Bobby. It was suddenly very important to her to see the girl who had gotten stuck in the middle of all the mayhem today. She knew it was a long shot, but she was hoping that maybe this girl could hold the key to some of this craziness.

Of course, her moves did not go unnoticed. Ranger was informed that she was heading to the infirmary. His first thoughts left his chest clenched in panic. What was wrong? Was she in pain? Did the wounds start bleeding? Was she sick? Was there an infection? All the possible questions played in his mind as he rushed down, himself, to find the answers.

Taking steps two or three at a time, he reached the door of Bobby's office only seconds after Stephanie had gone in. He opened the door to see Stephanie standing in the outer office talking to Bobby. Through the open door to the examination room, Vince and the injured girl could be seen sitting together on the exam table. Details of every kind were taken in and filed away, but his focus remained on Stephanie. She turned when she heard him enter the room.

"Steph," he said as he reached out to her, drawing her into his arms. Above her head he looked at Bobby seeking the answers. Bobby smiled and nodded, confirming that she was okay.

"Steph," he repeated pulling her back enough to look into her face. "What are you doing down here?"

In that moment Stephanie realized several important things. One - she had wanted to be here to be safe, and now that she was, she knew that she needed to respect Ranger's need to protect her. She should have let him know why she was coming down to see Bobby, she should have known that he would be worried. She would have been in his place. Two – he loved her, the look in his eyes told her more than any words ever could. Her love for him filled her heart and made it hard to breathe. She wanted to tell him that she loved him. He needed to hear that from her. Three - they had not yet had a chance to talk. It was time that they shared some words. It couldn't wait any longer.

Stephanie nodded at Bobby and pulled Ranger from the room by his hand. He followed willingly, stepping into the elevator and pulling her into a gentle embrace as they made their way to his apartment. She leaned her head on his broad chest, a soft sigh escaping from her lips. Her good arm encircled his waist and she held on tight. They were almost reluctant to move when the door opened on seven. Finally he led her into the living room and helped her as she sat down on the sofa.

Sitting to face her, he smiled and reached out to take her hands in his. She squeezed his hands and lifted her gaze to his and was about to speak. The look in his eyes stopped her. She could tell that there was something that he wanted to say and she was ready to hear it.

"Babe," he started, squeezing her hands. "I said some things to you before I left…" he seemed to hesitate, needing to know that she remembered that night. Stephanie smiled and nodded. He released the breath, that he had barely been aware that he was holding in, as she answered him.

"I have thought of little else since the night you left," she said. Stephanie pulled his hands up to her lips and kissed them, before holding them to her heart. The look on his face nearly made her cry for the joy it filled her with.

"I meant those words Stephanie," he said, moving in closer. "Every word." The look on her face encouraged him to continue speaking. "I want to be with you, I never want you to leave my side." Lifting one hand he cupped her face, his thumb smoothing along her jaw in an unconscious movement. "I want to say that I love you, Miss Stephanie Plum." He kissed her lips gently. "I will always love you!"

The kiss was returned and Stephanie reached out her arm, hooking his neck to pull him even closer to her. These were the words she imagined. The words she had wanted so desperately to hear. Now that he had spoken them to her, she knew it was her turn to let him know how she felt.

Before she got a chance, he lifted her around and settled her onto his lap, taking care not to disturb the bandages on her side and shoulder. The need to be closer to her was an instinct that he could not resist. Her contented look told him all that he needed to know, but when she started talking, he realized that hearing her say the words meant more to him than he ever imagined.

"Ranger," she started, but was immediately interrupted.

"Carlos," he whispered. She looked up into his face with such wonder, and admiration and love, it nearly took his breath away again.

"Carlos," she said with such tenderness, it filled his heart to over flowing.

"Carlos," she repeated, "I think I have loved you from the first moment that I saw you," she suddenly became shy and ducked her head.

"Really?" he questioned, lifting her chin so that he could look into her eyes.

With glistening tears threatening to fall, she nodded. "I'm so sorry it seemed to take me so long to realize it."

He pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin, wrapping both arms around her.

"Oh Babe," he said softly. "We both took too long to figure it out completely." He kissed her forehead. "But now that we have, you need to know something."

Pulling back to look into his face again, Stephanie waited for him to continue. "Now that we have," he said again. "I will never let you go!"

That was what she needed to hear. It was as if her heart started beating for the first time. As if her life had been hanging in the balance, needing those words to start up again. Everything about her world was different now. All for the love of this man.

Her arm reached up and she gently pulled his head to her. The kiss they shared was tender and passionate, leaving them both breathless, when they finally parted. His arms kept her in his embrace as they settled in to say a few more words to each other.

The beginning of their new life together was surrounded with the power of their love. Nothing could penetrate it and mar the perfect beauty of these moments.

Outside their blissful cocoon, however, the rangemen were tirelessly searching for the man who had caused such chaos in Stephanie's life. They would not rest until they found him.

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	11. Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

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With her practiced efficiency, Ella moved swiftly into the infirmary and stocked the cabinet with towels and supplies. Mentally she took note of the things that Bobby was getting low on. She knew that he would give her a detailed list when he did his monthly inventory, but she always liked to be a step ahead, to insure that he never ran out of any of the things that she could easily keep stocked for him.

Suddenly a flurry of activity burst into the outer office. Ella immediately left the examination room to see what was happening. She stepped to the side quickly as Vince rushed in. He was carrying a young lady who was bleeding from a gash on her forehead. Cradling her in his arms, her head was against his chest. So much blood was seeping into his shirt, Ella's hand flew to cover her mouth as a gasp escaped, she could only hope that Vince wasn't hurt too. She watched as he carefully laid the girl on the examination table.

Bobby nodded at Ella as he followed closely behind them. He grabbed some disposable gloves from the box on the counter and quickly slipped his hands into them as he nodded to Vince, using their nonverbal language instructing him to step out and wait for him in the office. Since he was part of the shooting incident, Vince would have to be checked out too before he could go back on duty. Vince closed the door behind him. He turned to Ella and tipped his head, in that certain way he had, acknowledging her, greeting her, respecting her all in that one gesture.

She sighed in relief as she realized that Vince was okay. With a smile, she watched him sit down and grab a magazine from the small end table. She nodded as she walked out of the office, leaving him to read the latest issue of _Guns & Ammo_ while he waited for Bobby. But before she closed the door, she couldn't help but see the concerned looks that he was casting at the examination room door.

The woman had lost a lot of blood but she was conscious, and obviously in a great deal of pain. As a medic in the field, Bobby had seen many wounds that were aggravated solely by the emotional intensity of the incident that caused them. It was his job to not only assess the physical damage, but to also ascertain the degree of emotional trauma the patient was experiencing. He was closely observing her as he started to work on her. In order to examine the gash, he painstakingly cleaned the area, careful not to use too much pressure. Even so, he pulled his hand back quickly when the woman flinched under his touch.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured soothingly to her, as he continued his work.

By instinct, she remained still and stoically held her head up to allow him to do his job. Everything had happened so fast. Bobbie was still trying to catch her breath from being shot at. Her thoughts immediately went to the man who had been there, trying to help her. Images of the past few moments flashed in her mind. That man had acted so swiftly, especially after having shots being fired all around him. The impression that he had been in the military was a logical one for her, based on her own experiences.

He had grabbed her and carried her inside effortlessly, his strength and determination evident. But when he had set her down just now, she had seen the large blood stain on the front of his shirt when he backed away. Was he hurt? 'Oh, please no,' her mind screamed… he didn't get shot did he? She had tried to pull him out of the line of fire, she would be devastated to learn that she had failed. She gasped at the thought.

Bobby immediately pulled his hand away again. "Did that hurt?" he asked, confused, he had not been cleaning anywhere near the gash. Maybe the hit she took had bruised a larger area than he had determined. She just ignored his question and blurted out one of her own.

"Did he get shot?" she asked frantically, her large brown eyes turning to him with concern. "He was bleeding, did he get shot?"

After a moment, Bobby realized that she was referring to Vince, and he started to shake his head. But something about the panic he saw in her eyes made him change his mind. He held his index finger up in a universal 'wait' gesture and walked over to the door.

"Vince, man. Can you come in here a moment?" he said. Bobby figured that the trauma of the shooting incident had her spooked. The sight of blood is always frightening. Usually victims are worried about their own blood. That she was more concerned about Vince told him that there was something different, something special about this girl, and he wanted to ease her mind.

Seconds later, Vince walked into the room. He smiled warmly at the young lady, dipping his head as if he had touched the edge of a hat in a greeting to her.

"How are we all doing?" he spoke with a soft, smooth voice, just a hint of a southern drawl, and he was pleased that she responded with a smile of her own.

Bobbie had been watching his movements. He was not acting like he was injured and the relief she felt melted over her.

"You want to take off that shirt for me," Bobby instructed. That earned a strange look from Vince, but he did as he was told. Pulling the black t-shirt up over his head revealed that the blood did not come from him.

"No shot?" Bobby asked. Vince looked at him in confusion. He was pretty sure that Bobby knew that no one had been shot. But he answered him anyway.

"No shot!" he confirmed it with a sharp nod of his head.

Bobby had kept his eyes on her. He had seen her relax with relief when Vince walked in. And now he had to hide a smile as he saw the spark of admiration that shone in her eyes, if briefly, on seeing Vince's chiseled physique. There was nothing seriously wrong with either of his patients. Bobby smiled as he tossed Vince a clean black t-shirt from the cabinet that Ella had just stocked.

The outer door burst open and Bobby looked up in surprise. It was Stephanie. He rushed out to see if she was coming down here with complications from her injuries. It didn't take her long to convince him that she was okay. In a quiet voice, she immediately started asking questions about the girl in the exam room. Bobby spent a few moments reassuring her that everything was fine. He could tell that Stephanie had been really bothered by the fact that the girl had gotten hurt by stumbling into a trap that had been set for her.

While Bobby did his best to soothe her worries, Vince took advantage of the time he would have to talk to the woman now sitting up on the exam table. He sauntered over, standing close to the table. He looked up through his long lashes at her. Almost giving the impression that he was a bit bashful.

"That was some quick thinkin you did out there," he began. He watched as her big brown eyes registered surprise and looked at him. "I have you to thank that our medic, over there, isn't diggin buckshot out of my backside right now." He held her gaze and said "I sure hope I didn't hurt you."

That soft accent was having a powerful effect on her. It was her turn to lower her eyes. It was nothing. Anyone in her place would have done it, and it suddenly made her feel shy that he thought he owed her any thanks. "It was nothing," she said in almost a whisper.

Vince indicated the table she was sitting on and said, "May I?" Bobbie scooted over a bit more and nodded. They sat there in silence for a moment. Their legs swinging over the edge.

After a minute, he offered his hand to her. "Names Vince," he said. "Vince Austin." He shook her hand and kept it in his as he waited for her to share her name with him. He did not realize that actual physical contact with him again was making strange things happen deep down in her stomach. He had no way of knowing that she was being affected, at all, because she kept her face calm and pleasant.

She pumped his hand a bit in a renewed handshake. "Bobbie Pennington" "It's good to meet you Vince," she added.

Reluctantly, he let her hand go. "The pleasure is all mine." He said. Silence ruled again for a bit. Finally Vince cast a sideways glance at her.

"If I'm not mistaken," he started. "You have some training." Bobbie looked over at him sharply. He had picked up on that? "Military training," he specified. "Am I right?"

She was spared the need to answer when Bobby walked back in. Vince immediately jumped down. He turned once more to her and dipped his head in farewell. "It was sure nice to meet you Bobbie," he said as he backed out of the door. Once again, he closed the door and remained standing there, just staring at it.

'What had just happened in there?' he found himself wondering. He kept getting lost in those soft brown eyes. It seemed a bit hard to take a breath deep enough to actually fill his lungs, though he tried repeatedly. He could still feel her slender hand in his, the very touch of her skin had sent currents of electricity throughout his whole body. With one last attempt to take a deep breath, he turned and sat down. Leaning forward he rested his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands, restlessly going over every second that he had spent with this beautiful lady. A sweet torture that left him hoping that she felt the same.

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	12. Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

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Giant fists were clenched. Details of his failed attempt to end Stephanie Plum's life still played over and over in his mind. He could see those dogs jumping around setting off his very expensive flares. He shook his head thinking of the perfect effect the smoke bombs had created, billowing out of the garage the way they did. All for naught, Stephanie did not even get to see the whole performance that he had orchestrated just for her. He was furious at the girl who brought those stupid dogs there in the first place.

The thin plaster in the rented motel room offered little resistance and one of his fists busted a hole through the nearest wall. His fury hardly contained. Only since his initial run in with Miss Plum had he felt this close to completely losing control. "That damn 'dog girl'!" he growled. If he was lucky, the first errant shot had hit her. Or the one after that. But he had not had time to stick around to see where those shots landed.

Now he was left to wonder if she was alive and was going to pose more problems for him. What had she seen? He had seen her through the scope, did she actually see him too? His blood pressure rose when he remembered that single moment when she was looking right up at him. Maybe it was only the glint of the sun on his gun that had caught her attention. He thought through every conceivable possibility. But the fact remained that he did not know anything definitively. And the uncertainty made him crazy.

He was dealing in a lot of 'ifs' right now. If she survived, he could not have her identifying him to any of those men now surrounding _Ms._ Plum. He was not about to let them find out who he was. Especially not through some clumsy girl who had already ruined his plans for Stephanie. There was just one thing to do. He would have to get rid of her. Eliminate any more interference from her.

He turned from staring at the hole he had just made in the wall. With his mind made up, he felt so much better. His new focus was on her. This should be a piece of cake, he told himself. Unlike Stephanie, she didn't have any rangemen looking out for her. He could come up with the way to make her disappear before anyone knew what had happened. That evil smile of his appeared on his face once again. His mood improved and he actually whistled as he pulled out his laptop, he could do some research to see if there had been reports of gunshot victims. If she were dead, perfect, if she were in a hospital, he could get to her. It was going to work out okay, he assured himself, and started making plans to get rid of the 'dog girl'.

III

"Vince." "Yo, Vince." Hank tried several times to get his attention. But Vince seemed to be staring intently at the screens in front of him. Finally he slugged him in the shoulder. "Hey!" he said, as Vince swung his head around and looked at him.

"What the…" Vince was not all that happy about Hank him hitting that way. But he stopped any complaints because he knew that he may have been zoning out again. Thinking about Bobbie was doing strange things to him. But mostly, right now, he was anxious. Something didn't feel right and he was worried that she was in some kind of danger. Only he couldn't describe what he thought that might be.

"Brown is looking for you man," Hank said. "I get to take your place while you go talk to him." Without another word, Vince rose and walked down the hall. Hank slid into his spot and continued the monitoring of the screens.

As he made his way to Bobby's office, Vince replayed the events of the last time he was there. A smile came to his face when the image of Bobbie's pretty face popped into his head. His smile originated in the depths of his heart and deepened the dimple in his chin. It happened so naturally, these smiles, all he had to do was think of her.

His smiles also lit up his hazel green eyes. That was one of the first things that Bobbie had noticed about Vince. Of course, that was just one of the things that she had observed. Like the way his thick dark hair was trim around the sides but a little longer and kind of wavy on top. She liked the way he was so much taller than she was, and she was not that short at 5'8", she figured that he must be over 6'4". Then there was that cleft in his chin, it deepened in the most amazing way when he smiled. She could stare at him all day long. And she could listen forever to his deep voice that was so sexy with just that hint of a southern drawl.

Oh, and yeah, she had definitely noticed his broad shoulders and strong arms. She liked thinking about the way she felt so safe while he carried her. Bobbie also liked thinking about seeing his ripped muscles when he took off his shirt. She couldn't stop thinking about that!

Most of all she loved the way she felt when she was near him. He had a way of making her feel so confident and calm. If she had to choose one thing to like about him, that would be it. She sighed, now she was thinking of him, wishing that she could be with him right now. When would she see him again? She wasn't sure what to think. He seemed to dominate her every thought, she had never felt this way about anyone before. She wanted more of him, to hear his voice, to feel his touch. She was not sure if it would ever happen, and it made her heart sink.

Vince pushed in through the office door. Bobby looked up as he entered. "Thanks for coming back down," he said as he motioned for Vince to follow him into the exam room. This was the examination that was supposed to have been done earlier. After any involvement with a dangerous situation, the men were to be checked out and cleared before they went back on duty. The circumstances of this afternoon altered the time frame for the exam just a little bit.

Vince sat swinging his legs on the same table that he had been sitting on with Bobbie just a few hours ago. His memories took him back to when he had been in the outer office waiting for his turn to be checked over. It had seemed like an extraordinarily long time before Bobby finally finished up with the girl who was still on his mind. The sudden movement startled him and Vince stood as she burst out of the exam room.

"The dogs are still out there loose," Bobbie was saying, with panic showing in her eyes. "I've never left them by themselves, I don't even know if they made it to the park."

It took no time at all for Vince to offer his services to help her find the dogs and make sure that they were okay. They had immediately left together, with Vince promising Bobby that he would come back later.

He led her to the parking garage, she walked through it swiftly and boldly until she came to the entrance. Her steps slowed and Vince was sure that she was worried about seeing the blood stain on the ground where she had fallen. He would have done anything to save her the pain of having to think of that moment over again. But she surprised him.

Instead of looking at the ground, she was surveying the building across the street. She knew what she had seen before, and knowing that whoever had been up there had nearly killed Vince made her crazy. Of course, she didn't actually expect to see anything there now, but wondering if there was any way to find out who had done this was foremost on her mind.

Suddenly their attention was diverted to the loud barking of the dogs that were bounding up the street. All three of the large dogs were still together. Bobbie was amazed that they hadn't all run off in different directions. She was about to call to them, but there was no need. They came rushing at her and pounced on her, knocking her down as soon as they reached her.

His protective instincts kicked in and Vince was ready to pull the crazy dogs off of her. Then he realized that Bobbie was laughing. The dogs were licking her face, telling her how glad they were to see her. "You silly dogs," she managed to say. Vince reached down to give her a boost up. She gratefully took his hand, her eyes sparkling as she turned her face to him and said "Thanks."

The dogs were still vying for her attention and she gathered up the leashes and tried to get them to calm down a bit. "I better get these guys home," she said.

Vince was not ready to let her go. He told himself that he still felt responsible for her safety, but he knew that it was much more than that. "I'd feel better if you would allow me to accompany you," he said, as she started to turn, to head down the street with the dogs.

A small smile started at the corners of her mouth and spread to sparkle in her eyes. "I'd like that," she said, nodding in the direction that they were to go. Together they managed to get the hyper dogs back to their owners. Spending more time with each one of these people than he thought should be necessary, as she made her apologies for taking so long to make it back. She never said anything about her own injuries. They had to ask her about the bandage on her head before she offered up any information about the incident. And then only telling them that she had tripped over the leashes and had fallen, which was the truth, or at least part of it. Even then, she down-played most of it and completely avoided any mention about the shooting.

His admiration for her grew. She had been protecting these people from worrying about something they would never have known about anyway. And he knew that she had been instinctively protecting the RangeMan reputation by not involving them at all in any of the explanations. This was a smart and special lady, and he found himself wanting to know more about her. He corrected that thought. He wanted to know everything about her!

Standing at her door, Vince really did not want to leave. But he knew that there was no reason for him to stay any longer. He knew that Bobbie was tired and needed to rest after the ordeal she had been through today. So he took her hand in his, reluctantly he told her goodbye, and kissed her hand before finally letting go. He even stayed outside her door, to be sure he heard her lock it securely before he walked away.

All the way back, he regretted leaving her alone. It didn't feel right. Bobbie had assured him that her sister would be home soon, but it did not ease his worry. Even now, he was frantic thinking about her. He had no explanation for his concerns. Only a nagging feeling that something was wrong.

"Bobby," Vince suddenly said, a little louder that he had intended. Bobby looked up at him in surprise.

"What is it Vince?" he asked, concern lacing his voice.

"What did Bobbie have to tell you about the things she saw today?" he asked, turning his head to give him his complete attention for the answer to his question.

If Bobby was surprised by this question, he did not show it. Vince had a right to know what kind of danger she thought he was in, when she acted the way she did today.

"She had seen a glint of light reflecting off of something in the building across the street. It had moved. That is why the sun caught it and she could not help but think that it was metal, like a gun. She reacted immediately."

Nodding his head, Vince realized that he had been right. She had experience with firearms, to recognize the kind of flash that the sun could reflect off of the metal of a gun, was covered in sniper training 101; either use a black weapon, or adjust your position so that there is no chance of the sun shining on it. He smiled, this was just another reason that he liked this lady.

"She didn't see who was over there?"

"No, just the reflection," Bobby said. "The same thing that Gene and Erik had seen, they are the ones who ran over to check it out." Bobby stopped, but Vince heard the hesitation in his voice.

"What?" he inquired. "Is there something else?"

Bobby shrugged slightly, "The report was that this guy is a pro. He didn't leave anything behind. Not shells from the rifle, not a decent footprint, nothing."

This is not what Vince wanted to hear. This confirmed that they were up against someone who did not want to be found, and he knew how to stay under their radar. This just increased the foreboding feeling that he had been having. He was more convinced than ever that Bobbie was not safe.

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	13. Chapter 13

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Chapter 13

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The soft early morning light sifted through the linen curtains covering the bedroom windows. Stephanie awoke with a smile on her face. She was gently tucked into a pair of strong arms. Even in sleep, Ranger was being careful with her injuries. "Morning Babe," a deep voice mumbled into her neck.

"Carlos," she whispered. "I wasn't sure if you were awake."

Her attempts to turn to face him were met with a little more pain that she expected and she drew in a sharp breath, which was closely followed by an exasperated sigh.

"You okay Steph?" he asked, the concern evident in his voice, as he helped her to move into a more comfortable position. He knew that it wasn't just the pain that bothered her. She always got so frustrated when anything kept her from doing what she wanted. She hated feeling helpless.

"Yeah, I just forgot, for a moment," she said with a half-smile teasing her lips. She did not want anything to ruin a single moment that she spent with him. Her finger traced lazy circles on his bare chest as they talked about the day ahead of them, then Ranger helped her get out of bed and offered to start some coffee for her while she headed to the bathroom.

She was greeted by Rex as she came into the kitchen, his whiskers twitching a happy little 'hello' to her. A smile came to her face. As usual, her friends had taken care of her, picking up her things from her apartment and making sure that her little hamster made it safely here too. Amazingly Ella had put most of her stuff away for her before she even got here. When she grew up, Stephanie decided right there on the spot, she wanted to be like Ella. She always seemed to know just what to do.

Ranger looked up from the tea he was making for himself, and flashed a smile at Stephanie. He handed her a mug with coffee, fixed just the way he knew that she liked it. They both took their mugs and sat side by side at the kitchen table. After a few sips, Stephanie suddenly remembered the girl who had been hurt yesterday. Her eyes flew to Ranger and she asked what he knew about her.

A few things had happened to distract them since she had run down to Bobby's office, and she had not had the chance to find out if the girl knew anything that could help them. Those distractions came into her mind again and her heart warmed at the memory of the words they had shared and the time they had spent together last night. It was no wonder that other thoughts had fled from her mind. But now she focused back on the question she had asked, she really wanted to know.

"I'll see what I can find out," Ranger told her as they went back into the bedroom to get ready for the day.

III

"Report." Ranger spoke the moment that Bobby walked into his office. Bobby was holding a few papers in his hand. Sitting down in the chair opposite the large desk, he started reading information from one of the pages.

"Barbara Pennington. 28. Goes by the nickname 'Bobbie'. He looked up at Ranger with something of a smirk on his face. "Vince took her home last night." A look passed between the men, and Ranger raised an eyebrow to hear that piece of information. Being a rangeman, and all that that implies, Vince could attract the attention of the ladies, and like the rest of the rangemen, he could have his pick of them. But the guy was unbelievably shy.

An interesting paradox, when you consider that he was one of the best Army Rangers that Ranger had ever known. He acted bravely and without hesitation to carry out the mission at hand, and his work ethic was second to none. But put him with an attractive female, that is paying him attention, and he clams right up.

"Good for him," Ranger simply said.

Bobby nodded in agreement and continued with his report. "She lives with her sister in the apartment building three blocks over, still on Haywood." Shifting his position in his chair, he continued. "Unemployed at the moment, she just recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan."

This got Ranger's attention. "Army?" he asked.

Bobby nodded as he lifted one of the sheets of paper and shuffled it to the top. "Says here that she worked in Intelligence." He hesitated, "Got a lot of walls around her file," he said. "She must have worked with some sensitive material." The rest of the information was pretty basic, and Ranger took mental note of the details.

"Her dogs tripped her and she sustained an injury to the head when she fell." It was Bobby the medic talking now, relaying the pertinent information in a concise, professional manner. "No sign of a concussion, she is in good shape and is expected to recover quickly and completely," he concluded.

"And what can she tell us?" It was the question on everyone's mind. Did she see or hear anything that could give them a clue to the identity of the crazy man that was after Stephanie?

Shaking his head, Bobby laid out the information that he had gleaned from talking to her. It closely matched all the information that they already knew. The technical equipment they had found in the area explained every one of the special effects that she had seen. "She was precise in her answers," "In the way you would expect a soldier to be."

This comment brought another question to Ranger's mind. "How long had she been stateside?" he asked. Without waiting for the answer, he asked another question. "Is she on leave?"

Bobby had expected both of those questions, and was able to answer both with one response. "She was honorably discharged from the Army four months ago." Then he answered the question that had not been asked. "Sustained injuries to her back during an enemy strike on the building she was working in." "Spent six months in Germany, to recover, before they sent her home."

Their eyes met as Bobby finished his report. "Ranger, she received that injury by helping three other people escape from the attack." "Got recommended for a purple heart, from the whole deal, when it was all said and done." He stopped and shot a pointed look at Ranger when he said, "They left her for dead. She almost did not survive the ordeal." "After saving everyone else, she had to pull herself to safety."

"Does Vince know about this?" Ranger asked. Bobby shook his head.

"No, I think this is something he will need to learn from her on his own." They both nodded in agreement.

III

Slamming his computer shut, he grunted as he got up from the table and started stalking the small room. It was impossible to think that this 'dog girl' couldn't be found. But he was having a hard time getting any information on her at all. Without a name, or any other solid piece information to go on, he could find nothing. No gun shots had been reported, no victims had been admitted to any of the ER's in town. He had to go on the assumption that she was still alive.

He absolutely refused to allow another plan to go FUBAR on him. He could not afford to have her running around telling people what she had seen. If, indeed, she had even seen anything at all. He couldn't take the chance. He would not take the risk. He knew that his best bet was to use what information he did have on her, to find her.

She walked those dogs every day. All he needed to do was take a fieldtrip to the park. It was dangerous to let himself come so close to the scene of the crime, and he knew that a man of his size could draw unwanted attention. "Hell," he muttered, he was a wanted man! he had to add that to the risk factor too. But he saw no other way to get to her. He would stick to the cover of the trees and wait for her to show up. He had her schedule in mind, so he knew the approximate time she would come to the park with the dumb dogs. All he had to do is watch for his chance to grab her. Then he could get rid of her. It would be swift, it would be easy, it would be final.

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	14. Chapter 14

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Chapter 14

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The moment he was done with Bobby, Vince headed down the street. Street lamps were just starting to come on in the fading light, and he noticed how different everything looked from the last time he has walked down this way. It did not take him long to realize that the only difference that mattered to him was that Bobbie was not walking with him. He couldn't look into her eyes when she turned to answer some random question that he had asked her. He couldn't hear her voice, that sexy blend of sweet and sassy that resonated in his heart. 'Funny' he thought, it sure didn't take long for her to get right under his skin. It felt like he had known her forever, could it really have only been hours?

All he knew was that he couldn't wait to see her. He debated all the way to her apartment about just what he was going to say when he got there, but in the end, he figured that it really didn't matter. He wanted to see her, she had never left his mind since the moment he had first seen her laying on the ground. He would never forget how he felt to see her hurt like that. He couldn't forget the way if felt when she grabbed him and pulled him on top of her either. Bobbie had won his heart and he needed to assure himself that she was going to be safe.

Suddenly he was there, climbing up to the second floor landing. Halfway down the hall, he came to her door. There had been no answer when he rang the old fashioned twist up bell that was installed in the center of the door. No one came to the door when he knocked. He could hear no noises inside when he called her name. Finally a neighbor poked his head around the corner and told him that the girls were not home.

Vince questioned him. Of course the old man had no valuable information to give, he did not know where they were. He didn't know where any of their friends or family lived. In fact he barely knew Bobbie at all, she had not been here very long. All he knew for certain was that he had heard the noises of them rushing around their apartment. Door slamming on their way out.

After the man left, Vince picked the locks and entered the apartment. As he expected, there was no one here. The relief he felt, at not finding bodies lying on the floor, was palpable. He walked around the space to be sure that there were no signs of a struggle, or any other kinds of trouble. What he found was a neat apartment. The living room was in order, and the kitchen only showed dishes stacked in the sink, but when he got to the bedrooms, he noticed how different they were.

One room was frilly, feminine, with throw pillows on the bed and chairs. A flowery perfume lingered in the air. Clothes were draped over the chair by the closet and several pair of women's shoes had been kicked off and left in random spots around the room. It had the lived in, comfortable look of someone having been here for a long time.

The other room was at the end of the hall and he immediately knew was Bobbie's. It had the feel of a guest room, a temporary place to be. But the bed had been made with smooth sharp lines. Military standard. The closet door was slightly ajar and he could see the garments hung in an orderly manner. Shoes carefully arranged in a line on the closet floor. A small suitcase and an empty duffle bag sat in the corner next to the armchair near the window. The only personal items were some photos on the side table. One was a picture of a slender woman surrounded by three small children. She looked like she could be a sister, a family resemblance was clear. The other photos were of the three women that Vince instantly decided had to be sisters. Bobbie smiled at the camera, and Vince found himself lingering, mesmerized again by those big brown eyes.

He pulled himself out of the temporary stupor and put the picture back on the table. He had to find out what had happened, where was she? The feelings that something was wrong had not gone away. It was then that he noticed the corner of an envelope caught in the drawer of the small table. A letter from her sister, he discovered, after he opened the drawer and pulled out the envelope. Not wanting to intrude, but needing to gather whatever information he could, Vince scanned the contents of the letter. He then returned the envelope to the drawer and walked out of the apartment.

III

Like a caged animal, he paced back and forth in front of the window in the small motel room. The only light in the room came from the harsh glow of the street light outside, it's greenish tint lending an appropriately disturbing feeling to the atmosphere. If the carpets hadn't already been threadbare, you would have been able to see the path he had worn into them with his restless movements. It had been impossible for him to relax. Not knowing if the dog girl was at this moment telling people that she had seen him. He needed to know that she was dead. He could not wait until tomorrow to see if she showed up at the park. He could not rest until she was taken care of.

His options were limited right now. The plans he was making for Stephanie's demise had been put on hold until he could find the 'dog girl'. She presented the immediate problem that needed to be addressed. The frustration he felt could not keep him from resolving that problem.

Not being able to find the information he needed through other sources, he was debating the enormous risk that he was about to take. But he was going to have to go out and look for her. Now. And the first place on his list was the hospital. He knew what she looked like, even if he did not have a name. He had been watching the RangeMan building for weeks, he had seen her as she walked the dogs almost daily.

It was a logical conclusion that he came to. He had seen her get hurt, before any of those stupid shots had been fired. That kind of injury would not be news worthy, but it could land her in the ER. And that was where he was headed now.

He just hoped that his white lab coat could keep him from being noticed. As a wanted man, he needed to keep a low profile. As a large man, that would be hard to do. But his need to eliminate this threat overruled everything else. Yes, he much preferred his high tech way of doing things. But this time it was going to be necessary to find her the old fashioned way. He tucked his smallest gun into the waistband of his pants, slamming the door shut as he left the shabby room.

III

The late shift was coming on when Vince made it back to the fifth floor. Automatically returning the greeting from some of the guys along the way, he hurried down the hall. He slipped into one of the cubicles and turned on the computer. With his fingers flying over the keys, he quickly identified the information that he was seeking.

Without another word, he left, quickly walking down the hall to the stairwell. Entering the garage, he used his remote to unlock the door of his big F250. Black, like all the other rangeman trucks, but bigger. And much more powerful. That thought always brought a smile to his face. But not tonight. Bobbie was in trouble, she needed him, and he needed to find her. The engine roared to life and he exited the garage. In another few minutes he reached his destination.

The anxiety he had been feeling suddenly intensified. She was here, he was sure of it. He was so close to finding her now, there would be no peace until he saw her again. Bobbie was in danger. That thought kept playing through his head. He did not know why, or what danger she could be in. He only knew that he needed to get to her quickly, that much he was absolutely sure of.

III

Night time in a hospital is still busy, but a hush seems to envelope it. Like a huge sleeping giant that no one wanted to wake. The only exception is the ER, the blaring sirens and all of the sounds; of panicking victims, steady streams of information from the EMT's as they rush in with their gurneys, of authoritative voices directing the mayhem. These were the sounds of his cover, he could slip into the mess and do his search without much interference.

Grabbing a rolling cart, he maneuvered himself through the labyrinth of curtained rooms. One by one, he searched for the girl. His frustration was growing, at every empty room, at every surprised look from people he didn't want to see. The search had turned up nothing at all. He gave the cart a shove, sending it careening down the hallway as he walked quickly past the nurse's desk.

That is when he saw her. His stepped halted. Finally he had found the dog girl. But everything about her seemed to be all wrong. Her hair was a shade lighter than he thought. He had remembered a rich auburn color, not this thin chocolate brown hair he saw now. Her face seemed wrong too, not much just enough. He was confused. He had seen the girl walking the dogs many times, enough to know what she looked like, and despite his confusion over the small differences, he was still sure that it looked like her. Who else would it be?

A nurse pushed the wheelchair, that the girl was sitting, in around the edge of the counter. Suddenly nothing was making sense. This girl was pregnant. In fact, it looked like she was here to have a baby. Okay, he was no expert, but he was fairly certain that he would have noticed this before. He was watching the chair disappear down the hallway when some voices caught his attention.

"He is on his way," one person said.

"Let's go catch up with Ginny before we get left behind," said another. He looked up to see two more of the same girl, as they rushed past him. One with shoulder length, ashy blonde hair and the other with the long auburn hair that he remembered. It took only another moment for him to realize that they were sisters. Then he turned to follow them.

III

The hospital seemed deserted as Vince walked in the front entrance. He immediately approached the front desk and requested the information that he needed. The nurse's aide at the desk seemed to be new at her job. Vince noticed that she was tentative as she typed the name he gave her into the computer. She was slow to scroll through the list of information that had popped up on her screen. She squinted her eyes as she read the names, her lips moving silently forming the words. Finally her eyes lit up and she smiled at him.

"Here it is," she said triumphantly. "Virginia Graham is in labor and delivery, third floor. Go through those elevators," she said indicating the ones located to the left of the desk, "Then take a right, you will see the nurse's desk, can't miss it." Suddenly she was very confident in her knowledge, and she gave a final nod as he thanked her and made his way to the elevator.

He felt the urgency, and was lamenting the fact that he had been delayed even a minute longer than necessary at the front desk. The elevator seemed too slow for him as well. When the doors finally opened, he turned to the right and rushed to the desk. The nurse here was much more experienced, she did not have to consult the computer, she knew exactly who he was asking about.

"Mrs. Graham is in the labor room," she said. And showing her experience again added, "The family is waiting in the visitors lounge." She pointed further down the hall and nodded at him. He immediately headed to the open area that she indicated and was stunned to find it empty. Somehow he knew that Bobbie was near. He could just feel it. He was also aware of the undercurrents of danger in the air. Just then the sounds of a door opening and closing down the hall drew him back the corridor. He looked up to see one of the women that he recognized from the photos in Bobbie's room. A sister, he had surmised, and again, he was amazed at the resemblance between her and Bobbie.

As she moved toward him down the hallway, she seemed startled to see him standing there, staring at her. He realized that this could be a situation where a single woman could be scared to find a large man in a deserted hall. That did not concern him, however, and he approached her.

"I am looking for Bobbie," he said. She tentatively nodded and stepped forward to enter the lounge.

"She's in here," she started to say, before her words dropped away. She looked around, doing a 360 degree turn, and then facing Vince again, "Well, she was in here when I left."

III

In the evening hush of the comm room, Robert Eriksson was busy. Quietly running search after search, he was only finding bits and pieces of the information that he sought. After the attack on the garage and then the shooting, he had been following one thin strand of evidence after another. Robert or Erik, as he was known in his ranger days and now here at RangeMan, was as tenacious as a pit bull when he got hold of something. The mess that some crazy guy after Stephanie had made really bothered him. He hated that he had hurt Stephanie, he hated that he had brought it so close to home, and he hated that he was good. That was the worst part, that he was a really good bad guy.

But Erik had been busy behind the scenes trying to figure this bad guy out. Today the guy had given him some new angles to look at. The 'toys' that he had been playing with were not your run of the mill, pick them up at the nearest radio shack kind of toys. These were high tech, exclusive and very expensive devices. If the guy had not made them himself, then he had to have a source. This narrowed down the search for him.

Unfortunately, it led him to a list of other bad guys, most of whom would not want to be sharing their 'customer' information with anyone. And worse, they would be underground and hard to find. But _Erik the Viking_ was known to be as tough as they come, and he would not be giving up anytime soon.

Papers were piling up on the desk. Lists of past FTAs that Stephanie had brought in. Details of the devices, and the materials that they were made out of, were covered in another pile. A list of 'toymakers' that was sketchy at best, was what he was working on now. There had to be a weak link somewhere in the armor that these guys built up around them. There was always at least one, and he was determined to find it.

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	15. Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

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The third floor, that had been so quiet until now, erupted with noise. The woman standing in the lounge cringed a little when she heard the scream coming from the labor room down the hall. "I think that's Ginny," she said, looking up at the only other person in the room.

Vince understood, but he made no comment. He was more concerned with finding Bobbie. At that moment, there was a crash down the hall in the opposite direction, followed by what could only be described as a pained grunt, and a gag that sounded torn from someone's throat. The violence of the sounds tore at his gut. Although the breaking of glass was somewhat muffled, the piercing scream that followed was not. He was instantly in motion.

III

Taking extra pains to look like he belonged here, he followed the women as they made their way to the elevators down the hall. They had caught up with the nurse who was pushing the wheelchair, just as the elevators doors were opening.

"We found him," the blonde sister said. "Mitch is on his way."

With a sigh of relief, the woman in the wheelchair grabbed her sister's hand and thanked her. The look of gratitude on her face morphed instantly as the next painful wave of a contraction doubled her over and she moaned. Her Lamaze training kicked in and she started breathing; short, quick breaths. Her sisters stared at each other and shared a look of horror.

"Let's get you up to the Labor room, shall we?" the nurse said in a voice that was way too perky for the occasion. The nurse and her voice disappeared with the other women into the elevator and the doors closed.

He watched the lighted numbers over the doors indicating the floor the elevator was on. It stopped at the third floor, and he grinned as he moved quickly down the hall to the stairwell. Now he knew where they were going. He would meet them there.

He deliberately slowed himself as he took the stairs two at a time. He could not rush this. He had to be patient, observant, ready to strike when the moment was right. He found himself controlling his own breathing now too. His were deep steady breaths. He could almost hear the mantra in his mind. 'Steady as she goes.' He knew he had to control this situation. 'Steady' he said again.

He took off the white coat and hung it, with others like it, on a rack that he passed as he made his way toward the nurse's desk. That was where all three women were now. He found a recessed doorway to hide in, where he could see without being seen. From his vantage point, he watched as the woman in the wheelchair was being pushed down the hall.

With incredible patience he waited as the elevator dinged and a frantic looking man rushed forward, nearly collapsing at the feet of the woman in the wheelchair.

"I got here as quick as I could." He could hear him say. Mercifully the rest of the conversation was swallowed up as they were moved into the labor room.

He watched as the sisters were directed down to the lounge where they could wait. With excited voices they made their way to the large open room. He heard the dog girl make the comment that it was good that it was a quiet night on the maternity ward, this way all the attention could be directed to her sister.

He could not agree more, but for completely different reasons. Once they were in the lounge, he had to find a new place to hide. He had to watch, wait. The perfect moment would come!

It was not as easy as he hoped to find a new place to hide. Strangely enough, hospitals did not seem to be designed with spaces that would lend themselves easily to concealing someone's presence. Finally he ducked into the small bathroom across from the lounge. It was not ideal, there was no guarantee that no one would need to use it. But it was quiet, as they had already pointed out, so he figured it was as good a solution as any. Peering through the sliver of a crack through the door, he watched as the women settled into what could be a long wait.

Suddenly the clatter of a rolling cart alerted him to the intern coming down the hall. He quickly closed the door and waited for the noise to recede. When he looked out again, there was only one woman sitting in the lounge. The blonde.

"Shit" he mumbled. Where did the other one go? No way, no way he could lose the dog girl now. As he opened the door wider, the nurse walked down the hall and stopped at the entrance to the lounge. She was just a few feet away from him and he could not move without causing problems for himself. With his hands clenched and his teeth grinding, he listened to her nauseating update of how her sister was doing. It seemed to take forever, when it had probably only been five minutes tops. But he was rapidly losing his patience.

The gun was moved from his belt to his hand. A long silencer was screwed onto the muzzle. The gun was pointed at the head of the talkative nurse and he had his target in his sights. Just as his finger was placed on the trigger, the nurse nodded at the woman and turned to walk back down to the nurses' station.

Not sure if he was relieved that he didn't have to kill her, he put the gun away and eased the door open so that he could slip out of the small room.

III

With several taps of the delete button, Erik erased the name Ray Sullivan from the subject bar. Gene had just come in with the list of names that had been given him to do a specific search on.

"Yeah, the dude is still behind bars," Gene said, with a hint of disgust. They had been going over each name for hours now, and they were both getting tired.

It was almost a source of pride, on Stephanie's behalf, that they had so many names to go through. And these were just the male FTA's that they were working on.

"Sullivan was in the Pennsylvania data bank, he moved out of Jersey nearly a year ago and they can have him." Gene added as he sat down heavily. "Are you ready to cross the rest of these guys from your list?"

Erik nodded and they both got out their lists. Many of these guys were still in trouble with the law, in and out of jail, most of them would not even be able to meet the bond requirements anymore. They laughed when they came to Bernie Kendrick's name. Most of these men they did not remember, but Bernie, he made an impression on Stephanie. A Boston crème impression. He smashed her favorite doughnuts into her face when she had tried to bring him in. He ran away from her and Stephanie had come into Vinnie's office covered with cream and chocolate and bits of doughnut, and she was fuming. She just couldn't decide if it made her more angry that he made a mess all over her, or that he got away, or that he wasted so many doughnuts!

Eliminating the rest of these names was narrowing down the list, but it would not be the answer to the problem by itself. It would not be enough to know which of her old skips were available to go after her right now. They needed something to tie them to the devices they recovered and to what Stephanie had been going through. They all readily admitted that this had been a unique situation. But they plowed through the names. It could be, they hoped, a step to getting closer to finding this guy.

III

The door inched open, stepping out of the bathroom, he moved slowly toward the end of the hall. He looked at each room on his way. Most of them were empty patient rooms. But he noticed that in addition to the small single bathroom that he had been hiding in, there was a woman's restroom down this hall as well. Maybe the dog girl was in there, he thought. He took another deep breath. 'Steady as she goes.' He muttered. 'Steady…'

The elevator sounded again, and he quickly slipped back into the alcove that he had found before. Steps echoed on the tile floors, he could hear them coming closer. Carefully peeking around the corner, he saw her. Apparently she had gone to the gift shop to get some balloons for her sister. A huge balloon bouquet. There must have been half a dozen big balloons that she was pulling down the hall with her. 'How sweet' he thought in disdain.

Following her progress, he watched as she went back into the lounge. 'Steady…' he forced the word in to his mind again. They were laughing. He just needed to time his move just right. 'Steady. Wait for it,' he told himself.

Suddenly the blonde sister stood. He watched as she walked to the restroom down the hall. It was time. He was ready to spring into action. But not here, it would be too obvious here. The lounge was wide open, not the best place to kill someone, not if you wanted to get away without getting caught.

When the plan came to his mind, he was ready. It was perfect, and now was the time. He walked swiftly to the lounge, she could not actually see him because the balloons blocked her view, but she heard his steps. She knew that they were not her sister's, the tread was too heavy, aggressive. Just as she was standing to confront whoever it was, the balloons moved. For a moment she was stunned. Somebody was stealing her balloons. Who does that?

The balloons bounced down the hall. Bobbie chased after them, incensed that anyone would be stupid enough to try to get away with taking her balloons. Still she could not see the person responsible for this idiotic action. Finally he reached the door to the stairwell. 'Ha, nowhere left to go.' she thought. Suddenly the balloons were thrust at her. She got a glimpse of a huge man, right before the balloons floated to the ceiling, blinding her momentarily and she was grabbed from behind.

From the size of the man she thought she saw, she would not have believed that he could move that fast. But instantly her training kicked in. Her hands went up in a defensive position. She attempted to turn, to face her attacker. A thick wire came over her head and the large hands tried to wrap it around her neck.

She grabbed at the wire. It immediately sliced into her skin, but she held on, pushing at it with all her might. She felt it as he pulled it tighter, it cut into her neck. He was behind her, he felt like a brick wall. She thrust her head back hitting him chin. All she got for her efforts was an angry grunt as he apparently bit his tongue from the sudden strike. He tightened his grip around her neck. She screamed, but it was silenced almost immediately. He was increasing his grip on her neck. It was getting hard to breathe, her own hands were being pressed up against her wind pipe.

She raised her right knee and then thrust her leg down with all the force she could. Stomping on the inside of his ankle, grazing the bone with her heavy soled shoes. He wheeled around, an involuntary groan escaping from deep in his throat. They became off balance and slammed into the cart that the intern had left outside the of storeroom door earlier.

Bobbie took advantage of the movement and shot her leg out again, this time connecting with his knee. Because of the momentum and the pain from the blow, he landed hard on that knee, pulling her down onto the floor with him. Her head hit the floor and opened the gash from before. It also temporarily stunned her and her collapsed.

Anger flared in his chest. He was in pain, his foot, his chin, his knee. He wanted her dead. "Die dog girl" he said, in his head. He rose and grabbed his gun in one movement. He had just pointed it at her head when he heard the heavy footsteps coming down the hall. Every curse word that he knew was ready to fly from his mouth. He had to get out of here. Turning, he pushed open the heavy stairwell door and raced painfully down the stairs.

III

His heart pounding and blood pumping, all his instincts and training were in play. The commotion happened all the way down at the end of the hall. As Vince drew closer, all of the details came into focus. Shiny mylar balloons were bouncing along the ceiling, their colorful ribbon streamers dangling halfway to the floor. A metal cart was over turned, hospital gowns that had been neatly folded were now strewn all over the floor and pieces of glass and the contents from several broken bottles was spilled all over the fabric. Behind the spinning wheel of the cart Vince saw a shoe. He raced forward pulling the cart out of the way. Bobbie was crumpled on the floor, behind her the door to the stairwell was slowly closing.

In a split second, Vince had to make a decision. He knew that Bobbie had been attacked. He also knew that the perpetrator was now escaping down the stairs. Did he stop and make sure the Bobbie was okay, or did he chase after the bad guy, who he guessed to be the same one that had been after Stephanie. It was a no brainer, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Bobbie!" he said in a strained voice as he stooped to kneel beside her. His heart only started beating again when she responded to his voice. Slowly she lifted her head. He could see that the bandage on her forehead was crimson red. Her beautiful eyes were wide in pain and horror.

"What happened?" he managed to ask. The thick veil of her hair shifted and he almost gasped when he saw the angry looking red line that circled her neck. And in that instant the sinking feeling of danger, that he'd had, turned into a fury that demanded justice.

At first Bobbie could not say anything. The shock of nearly being strangled to death was only just wearing off. Her neck hurt, in fact, most of her body was starting to ache. But hearing Vince's voice had a powerful effect on her. Immediately she knew that everything was going to be alright. He was here, and that was the only thing that she wanted to think about now.

Vince grabbed her hands that had been hanging limply at her sides, they were bleeding, and he could see the thin cuts along the inside of her fingers that dripped more blood. He grabbed one of the dry gowns and wrapped it around her hands.

Suddenly the fatigue from the fight washed over her. Her shoulders slumped and her head felt too heavy to hold up. She leaned into Vince just a little more. Noticing the changes in her, he was instantly on alert. She needed to get medical attention,

"Bobbie, do you think that you can move?" he asked softly. Her head nodded, so he slipped one arm under her legs, and the other around her shoulders. As he picked her up and held her close to him, she felt the tears start to fall. She knew it was the adrenaline crash, and it did not matter. She was in Vince's arms and she had never before felt so safe.

"Thank you," she whispered. And then she went limp in his arms.

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	16. Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

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Bed rest had been prescribed for Stephanie as she recovered. Both Bobby and Ranger were keeping their close watch over her, and they were relieved and more than a little surprised that she had been cooperating so fully. So far. Even though they all knew that it was the best thing for her, they may have been expecting some resistance.

For her part, Stephanie was determined to do what she could to recover quickly. The sooner she was cleared medically, the sooner she could start to do some work around RangeMan for Ranger. They had discussed the searches and skip traces that she could help with, and she was anxious to be helpful and to have something challenging to do. But Ranger wanted her to build her strength up before she tried to tackle any kind of schedule.

Yes, there would be times when she would start to think that she was going to go crazy. But she assured herself that she could handle anything! Physical activity was limited for her, so she really looked forward to the short easy walks she was allowed to take on one of the treadmills in the gym. For the past couple of days, Bobby showed up, to monitor her heart rate and to check her progress. He started slowly walking with her, on the neighboring treadmill, so that she wouldn't feel self-conscious with him watching her. They talked, as they walked and she found that she really liked their time together. He was fun to talk to, she loved his stories of being a medic in the field, and she found that she was getting an education in physical fitness and healthy living while she was at it.

She knew she would come to really enjoy these moments more and more the stronger she got. That first time she tried the treadmill had worn her out. After they were done, she sat down, drinking one of the many bottles of water that she was required to drink every day, when Bobby's pager went off. He gave her a squeeze around her shoulders.

"You did a great job Steph," he said. "Drink it all before you go upstairs," he said, pointing to the water in her hand. Then he left to take care of his next appointment.

Stephanie finished the water and stood slowly. It was going to ache for a while. She looked around the gym, hoping that no one would see how slow she was moving right now. She was not in a lot pain, exactly, but she felt weak. She just didn't want anyone to know it.

Only Lester was down here, working on the free weights. He was not looking her way so she was okay. Gathering up her things, she turned to leave when Cal and Woody came in. They walked over to say hello. While they were talking to her, the gym began to fill up. Stephanie spent the next half hour visiting. As she moved around the gym, she was absently picking up used towels and empty water bottles that she found along the way. Finally she dumped the garbage in the can by the door and tossed the armful of towels into the bin. She finger waved to the guys and headed up to take a nice long well deserved nap.

III

His window overlooked the park. When he had the chance, which was not often, he liked to watch the people down there. Young mothers with their babies and small children. Groups of school age kids who would bring a soccer ball or Frisbee. People of all ages strolling, walking or running with their dogs of all sizes. And even the older generation who looked like they were enjoying their leisurely wanderings around the open spaces.

Today would be another one of the days that he would not have time to watch the activity in the park. He turned and focused on his purpose for coming here. He had his old duffle bag that he held in one hand as he walked through the apartment, gathering up the things he would need now that he was moving into RangeMan.

A glance at his watch told him that he needed to hurry. Bobbie would be ready to leave soon, and he was determined to be there before she had the chance to change her mind. Most of the night, they had had this discussion. As much as he loved that she was a strong and independent woman, he knew something about the man who attacked her that she didn't. The only place that she could be protected was in the same place that Stephanie had sought refuge.

At first she had flat out refused, she said that she did not know anyone there, and didn't want to be a burden. A smile stole across his face, he found it ironic that she had only given up her objections when he told her that he would be there with her. Technically, she did not know him either. But the fact that she had saved his life and she felt that now he had saved hers too, made them connected in a way that knowing one another for years might never have achieved. For his part, he wanted to get to know her a whole lot better, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to do just that.

The doctors at the hospital had insisted that after being knocked out temporarily, she needed be kept for observation. It was standard procedure with head injuries. Bobby had arrived just in time to reassure her that it would be a good idea. Since he had been the 'doctor' that took care of her first injury, she seemed to trust his judgment, and she agreed. The fact that she had been planning on hanging out in the waiting room all night for her sister to have her baby didn't have anything to do with her decision. Yeah, right. She was a sneaky one, this one! Vince loved her all the more for it, so he went along with the whole thing and stayed with her, all night long.

After six hours in labor, Ginny Graham gave birth to a beautiful boy. She and her husband now had four lovely children. Matched pairs, two girls and two boys. The proud aunts showered their new nephew with love and attention. Acting like the only drama that had gone on tonight had been in the arrival of this adorable baby, Bobbie congratulated her sister and her brother in law, and then was taken back up to her own room. Maybe someday, the whole story would come out. But for now, Bobbie wanted to keep the focus on the miracle of a new life.

III

The one thing that she was absolutely forbidden to do was to leave the building. She understood the reasoning why. Heck, she had practically begged to be allowed to live here, knowing it was the one place she would be safe. But that did not mean that she wasn't worried about getting a little bit restless and feeling just a tiny bit trapped. But she assured herself that she could deal with it.

Apparently she had been dealing with it a little too well. Other things slipped her mind as she enjoyed the peace and safety of RangeMan. She was not even sure what had pricked her memory, but later that day, Stephanie realized that she had not checked in with Vinnie since all this had happened. She had not spoken with Connie or Lula either. Or her mother for that matter. With all the distractions she'd had, it had not even occurred to her that they might want to hear how she was doing now. 'Well, they can call me just as easily' she told herself, and she knew that she had not heard her phone ring, not even once.

Still, she felt that she should at least tell Vinnie, personally, that she would not be out looking for skips any time soon, if ever again, judging by the way she felt right now. So she grabbed her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Immediately she felt horrible. Even if they tried, no one could have called her, the phone was off. She tried to turn it back on to see if anyone had left her any messages. But she couldn't, the battery had gone dead. Oops!

Stephanie rolled her eyes. She was sure that when she got the phone plugged in again to charge, she would be getting numerous messages. Especially from her mother. She could just imagine the guilt trip that her mother was going to lay her on for forgetting to call her. And as much as she was truly not looking forward to it, she knew that she really needed to make some calls.

She searched, and searched, but was not able to find the charger cord. Just then, Ella stopped by, bringing up a late lunch and staying for a few minutes to chat. In the course of the conversation, Stephanie mentioned that she had not been able to find her charger. Ella looked at her and tilted her head slightly. She told her that there had not been a cord in the boxes that they had brought from her apartment. She was certain, and Stephanie had no reason to doubt that she knew what she was talking about.

It made perfect sense. Stephanie could picture the cord falling down behind the table next to her bed in her apartment, where it had been plugged in. No one would have seen it, and they probably didn't have any reason to look for it. With a shrug, she threw the phone in one of the kitchen drawers. It was of no use to her now. She could just use one of the company phones.

She didn't feel like being alone up here when she made the calls. Quiet was not something that she was used to. So Stephanie called Ranger. She didn't want to go down now if he was busy. Of course, using the phone was just an excuse. She smiled as she realized that she just wanted to go down and see him. But if he was busy, she did not want to interrupt him.

Stephanie could practically hear the smile on his face when she talked to him. "I'm never too busy for you Babe," he said. It made her happy to hear him say it, even if she knew that it wasn't entirely true. There would be times that he would be too involved to just drop in on, but right now he wanted her to come down, so she wasted no time in doing so.

III

This latest incident with Bobbie opened up a new door in the investigation. Erik was furiously working, exploring every detail. Ranger let Tank reschedule the guy's schedules to cover Erik's shifts so that he could concentrate on the search for this man who had caused so much trouble for Stephanie and now for Bobbie. Erik had been spending the majority of his time on his computer at the office. He was sending out Gene and Hal out to gather intel from the streets.

Talking to Bobbie when she got here would be key in collecting more facts to go on. Vince had passed on as much information as he could, just after the attack. Bobbie could fill in the details later. But Erik was already finding some very interesting connections that they had not made before. Now that they knew what they were looking for, the game was on!

III

Ranger was on the phone when Stephanie peeked into his office, Ranger saw her and waved her in. He ended the call and stood, she moved toward him as he stepped away from his desk. It was the most natural thing now to melt into his arms, and lay her head on his shoulder. His gentle caresses felt so wonderful, she closed her eyes and moaned a little.

She could hear his laugh rumble in his chest. "And to think that I was about to ask you how you were feeling," he said. "You don't sound like you are in pain right now."

He could feel the smile on her face. "No, I'm fine," she said. He knew she would not be admitting to being in pain, and he let it go for now. She pulled back. "I just have some phone calls to make," she said. At his confused look, she answered the questions that she knew he would have going through his mind. "My cell phone died, and I did not want to use the phone in your office. It's just too quiet up there." He did not pretend to follow her logic, Ranger just nodded and kissed her as she stepped away. "I'll be back when I'm done," she said, and disappeared through the door.

When she talked to Vinnie, he informed her that Lula had been going out on her own. Stephanie was about to congratulate him for arranging for someone to get the job done. But before she had a chance to say anything, Vinnie nearly cried over the phone.

"She has not found one single person. Not one Steph!" "I have a stack of files ten feet high," he exaggerated, "I'm drowning here and she can't bring in one stupid skip."

"I am going crazy, I'm not even kidding. Tomorrow I am going to have to go out myself."

Stephanie tried not to laugh. She knew how much he hated that part of the business. He had always hired out people to chase the skips, because he didn't want to do it himself. Then of course, she reminded herself, Vinnie was always complaining about the way she did things, implying that he could do so much better. 'Well Mr. Hot Stuff,' she thought, 'Here is your chance to prove it!"

Since Lula was out "on the job", Stephanie was only able to speak with Connie for a few minutes. After sharing the events of the past few days, she reassured Connie, again, that she was going to be okay. Connie was still a bit shaken up from the shooting. Stephanie attempted to reassure her, that she was doing fine. Then she told her that she would not be going out to see anyone for a long time, and she tried to let her know that she really didn't have any intentions of coming back to bounty hunt, ever. She wasn't sure that she had gotten through to her, however, because of the next thing that Connie said.

"Steph," we've got files piling up, it's reaching critical mass around here." She sighed over the phone, a sound that was loud and raspy. "Vinnie is trying to get me to try to pick up a few FTA's too." "You've got to come back soon Steph, the office is going to fall apart without you!"

As flattering as it was to hear that she was missed, and even perceived to be the best old bounty hunter that Vinnie's' little office had ever seen, Stephanie just really did not want to go back to that.

Then it was time to speak to her mother, Stephanie found herself apologizing multiple times for not calling earlier. It had been just as she suspected, so as soon as she could, she asked to speak to her father for a minute.

"Pumpkin, how are you holding up?" he asked. She relayed the same information that she had given her mother, but this time there was no "why me" attitude, just the comforting feeling that her dad was relieved that she was okay, and happy that she had found a place to be where she could be safe.

She hung up the phone and shrugged. She had done what she could. Now it was time to go back and find Ranger.

III

Stephanie tapped on the open door as she entered the office. Ranger looked up and smiled. The wattage of that smile always did things to Stephanie's stomach and she smiled back, the warmth in her eyes telling him all that he needed to know. He would never get tired of gazing into those shining blue windows to her soul. He hugged her and then led her over to the couch. Helping her settle onto the smooth leather, he noticed that she was moving with a bit of difficulty. These types of injuries were painful, he had had enough similar ones to know that, first hand. He was so proud of her. Not only did she not complain, but it seemed that Stephanie did not to want anyone to think that she was in any kind of pain. He was never quite sure why that was, but he was prepared to go along with it as long as it wasn't harmful to her. Gently he pulled her close.

Wrapped in Rangers arms, Stephanie knew that everything was going to be alright. He always created a shield from the world for her. Laying her head on his shoulder, she could feel him tracing slow, lazy circles on her back. His breath whispered through her hair, sending tingles up her spine, and to a few more strategic spots. She drew in a deep breath, an effort to control the powerful emotions that filled her heart. She never knew that she could love another person with this force. But every day, it seemed to only get stronger, deeper. She buried her head a bit deeper in the crook of his neck. The need to be closer still to him was all consuming.

He felt the need in her. His arms held her just a bit tighter, he felt it too. Once, this need would have been overwhelming, propelling them to heights of passion and ecstasy. Now he found that it was much deeper than that, so much stronger. The need to be connected to her heart was the most powerful pull he had ever experienced. So it did not matter that she was still limited in the types of activities that she could do. The closeness that they both needed now was on a level that neither of them had ever reached before. It was his turn to breathe deeply, filling his lungs with her scent, with her essence. He wanted to fill every part of him with her.

Slowly she moved, kissing his neck, his ear, his chin. She made another adjustment, now she could kiss his temples, his eyes, his nose. She scattered the soft kisses until she could take it no longer and her lips found his. Tender and with deep meaning, he returned her kiss. Both of her hands were on his face now and she looked into his eyes. "I love you," he said. Her eyes shone brighter. Glistening with tears.

His own eyes were showing her that what he said was true, with all that he was, he did love her. She knew it and it filled that spot in her heart that no one had ever touched before. "I love you." She said the words, they seemed so small compared to the emotions behind them. But she knew that he believed her. Everything about her told him that he could.

Maybe this moment should have been spent under the canopy of stars in a moonlit rendezvous. Maybe it could have been shared in an intimate setting with music and low lights. No one would have ever suspected that the most important bond that two people would ever experience could have happened in the unlikely scene of his office. But the location was never the most important factor. And they would never forget this moment, this connection. This spot would always be a reminder of the most significant event of their lives. Perhaps it was meant to happen in a place so common to them that seeing it often would be a constant reminder, renewing the memory often.

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	17. Chapter 17

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Chapter 17

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Racing down three flights of stairs with the gun still in his hand, he was fuming. This was the second time that he had run from the rangemen, and his pride was starting to take a beating. Of course he had to get away, it would not do to let these men get a hold of him. He knew better than that. But this whole business with Miss Stephanie Plum was just pissing him off now. As he reached the ground floor, he concealed the gun and tried to calmly walk out of the hospital, drawing as little attention to himself as possible.

He was on the run now. Finding a new place to hide was first on his list of things to do. He regretted now that he had burned down his rickety cabin in the Pine Barrens. His confidence in bringing Stephanie down had been commendable. There had been no reason to think that he couldn't finish the job quickly and on his planned time table. He was not prepared to consider that he had been arrogant or cocky. But he had never foreseen just how much could go wrong in his attempts to do so. His objective had been and still was to make Stephanie Plum suffer and ultimately die for the trouble she had caused him. Nothing had changed in that regard.

Now his frustration was showing as he pulled into the underground parking structure. His hatred for her burned brighter than ever. The realization that he had taken too many chances by going after the stupid dog girl, led him to refocus on his prime objective. He just hoped that the risks would not be increased exponentially by coming back to his family retreat. There was no family left. His parents had been gone as long as he could remember, abandoning the family as soon as the youngest was of legal age. All they had left behind was this condo in Manasquan, close to the shore.

He was actually surprised that it had survived Hurricane Sandy. But he had seen for himself that it was habitable, if a little bit rough. He had briefly inspected the property after he broke out of prison. But he did not linger at the time, no sense in taking unnecessary chances. His hideout in the Barrens had been the better place anyway. Without that option now, the condo would have to do. There had been enough damage done to the other parts of the building, during the hurricane, that he hoped he would have the whole place to himself. It had looked deserted when he saw it, and he would be happy not to have to deal with any nosey neighbors. They tended to get in the way, and the way he felt now, they would probably end up permanently missing anyway. Being alone would be a much better idea.

With his car hidden in the dark corner of the garage, he made his way to the third floor bedroom. It had only a small window, as it was not facing the beach and was not needed for a view. He would be able to cover it easily and conceal his presence. With his renewed intentions to go after Stephanie again, he set about formulating his new plan. Once again his mantra echoed in his head. "Steady as she goes."

III

The paperwork had been completed and the hospital was ready to discharge Bobbie, on the condition that she would be under medical supervision. She had been cleared of any concussion. But they had been concerned that she had fainted after Vince found her. Several tests were run, the results would be discussed with her medical care advisor the following day. With his patient seated in a wheelchair, Bobby Brown escorted Vince as he wheeled her out to the black truck waiting in the emergency lane. Her back was erect and she was a little bit irritated that because of hospital policy, she had to be treated like an invalid.

Vince tried to keep back his smile at her discomfort. The past few hours had been very enlightening. The woman who had stolen his heart, he decided, was like a diamond. Life had cut her with its experiences and had made her sparkle. Every one of the facets contributed to the beautiful person that she was. He had only been given a glimpse of her, so far, and he could hardly wait to know more.

Although she had been assigned a room for her observation, Bobbie dragged Vince with her to sit with her sister, in the lounge that he had never wanted to see again. It reminded him of where he had been when he had heard her scream. He would have thought that she might shy away from this area for that reason as well, but she showed the immeasurable depths of her strength by insisting that she was here for her sister and that she was not hurt so badly that she could not stay to support her family.

Vince had never been so intrigued with a woman in his life. When news came in, finally, about the arrival of her new nephew, he had never seen anyone so elated. She had thrown her arms, with her bandaged hands around Jani and they nearly screamed their excitement. But when the time came for them to go in and see their sister and the baby, her eyes glowed in reverence at the miracle of this new life. Her arms gently rocked the tiny infant with tenderness and love radiating in her beautiful face.

That made her fierce resistance to being forced to go back to her room, all the more startling. She had a temper, it glinted in her eyes that had, only moments before, been filled with crystal tears of joy. But she gracefully held reins over her anger, informing the nurse that she would allow Vince to escort her, but she would not be bullied by the intern that had been sent to drag her back. Vince had taken full advantage of the situation and wrapped his arm firmly around her shoulders, allowing her to feel protected from any hostility she perceived around her.

Secretly he agreed, the tall intern had not shown proper respect or consideration when he came and tried to physically escort her away. After what she had just gone through, he could see that being accosted by any man, let alone one who had similar traits to the one who had recently attacked her, would give any woman cause to feel anxious. And he was more than happy to lend her his support and his arms.

"What?" Bobbie said, staring at him. He looked back at her, confused. "What?" she repeated. "Why are you smiling like the cat that ate the canary?"

Vince could not help but laugh; he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I just like being here with you," he said.

"You like hanging out in a hospital in the middle of the night?" she questioned with one eyebrow raised.

"I would like being anywhere, as long as I was with you," he replied, winking at her. His smile increased when he felt her lean a little closer to him. Yes, it was the greatest feeling he had ever had, being here with her in his arms.

When it was finally time for them to take her RangeMan, she hugged her sister and thanked her. Janice was headed back to the apartment to pack up Bobbie's belongings so that one of the guys could come and pick them up for her. Vince had explained that it would not be safe to allow her back in her apartment, not even to grab her stuff. As much as she hated dragging Jani into her problems, she was grateful for her help. She watched as the car drove out of the parking lot. Immediately, a black truck followed close behind her.

Vince stopped the wheelchair at the curb. Bobbie made motions to get up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see him smiling at her, she relaxed back into the seat. They had come to an agreement, and she had promised to let Vince help her. They both knew that she might need to be gently reminded of that fact from time to time, and she was not about to start going back on her word right now.

She remained there until he reached down and lifted her into his arms. She gasped, but did not object. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight. She and Vince watched as Bobby opened the door to the back seat. Vince tossed him the keys to his truck, "You drive," he said, as he gently placed her on the seat and climbed in to sit beside her.

With the keys in his hand, Bobby stood immobile for a moment. This was Vince's truck. He loved this truck. No one ever drove his truck! It took him a beat or two to wrap his mind around it, then he smiled and sauntered around to the driver's door. He kept that smug look on his face for the entire ride home.

III

With a determined gait, Cal moved quickly up to the desk where Erik was bent over a stack of papers. He stopped and leaned against the wall with a satisfied look on his face. At first Erik had been too busy to notice, but the bulk of the man silently standing next to him finally got his attention. Once he looked up, Cal slapped his hand down on the desk. Several pages torn from a small notebook were now trapped under his large hand.

"Guess who we ran into," he said.

He had Erik's undivided attention now. With a slight raise of an eyebrow, he asked the question, 'Who?'

"Do you remember ol' Itai Phelan?" Cal casually said. He knew the answer before he asked it. Phelan had been on the top of Erik's list of expert toy makers. He had earned that place by being the best there was in the area, notorious for his obsession with presentation. He believed that if you were going to go the trouble of tormenting someone, you should do it in style. The smoke bombs in the garage that day had Itai Phelan written all over them.

Being the "shy" guy that he was, it was next to impossible to locate the old man. Though his family heralded from Uzbekistan, he had never set foot in any part of Asia or the middle east. But by virtue of his heritage he considered himself to be nomadic by nature and therefore was never found in the same place twice. To make it harder to find him, he usually hung out with other "shy" people, never tying his name to any one location. Word of mouth was the only way to catch up with Itai. And it looked like Cal had found a mouth that was sharing that word.

Erik fist bumped Cal as he grabbed the papers. With his skills, the name on one of the notes popped out at him and in minutes, he had pulled up pages of information on Floyd Walton. His most recent arrest warrant showed an address. It was the next place that they would be looking. Cal took note of the address and headed out. He met Woody in the garage. They had an unscheduled appointment with Floyd. Maybe he could get him to introduce him to his friend Itai.

III

Final preparations were being made to welcome both Bobbie and Vince to RangeMan. Ella had changed the sheets, stocked the bathroom with towels and toiletries, filled the fridge and cupboards with food, and had given the place a once over with the vacuum and mop. Her version of a quick cleaning rivaled that of a burg housewife doing her spring cleaning. She wiped her hands and closed the door. All set.

The lateness of the hour kept many of the guys from meeting Bobbie when they arrived. Ranger was the exception. He waited for them at the elevator to give them the keys, and after introductions, he walked down the hallway with them. Arrangements were made to meet together in the morning and Ranger said good night.

After Vince let her choose the bedroom she would like, they moved into the living room to wait for Chet, who was going to bring the bags from her apartment. It had been a hectic 48 hours and fatigue was finally catching up with her. Vince didn't mind that she had fallen asleep in his arms. All he could think of was keeping her safe and protected. Gazing at her angelic face in sleep, those feelings were reinforced. He would have stayed here with her, just like this, but he knew that Chet would be here any time. So he gathered her in his arms to take her to her bedroom. Her head rolled back on his arm. Her neck was long and slender wrapped with so much gauze it looked like she was wearing a turtle neck shirt.

Anger flared in his gut, he would make sure that they did not rest until they found the monster who had done this to her. Gently he placed her on the bed. He untied, and carefully removed her Doc Martens. Then he covered her with the blanket that he found at the end of the bed. Reluctant to leave, he stood near the bed until he heard the knock on the door. At the last moment, he walked back to the bed and kissed her cheek. Softly he whispered, "Sweet dreams Bobbie," before he pulled away and left the room.

After Chet left, he went to his room. But Vince knew that he wouldn't be getting much sleep. He had the woman in the next room on his mind.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

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Looking around the conference room, Bobbie was amazed at the intensity of the men seated around the table. She recognized only a few of them. Vince was seated next to her. It seemed that they had been inseparable for the past couple of days. Her gaze took in his handsome features, and her heart seemed to beat just a little bit faster. He must have felt that she was looking at him, because he turned to her and smiled, that cleft in his chin deepening, and the green in his eyes sparkling. She felt her heart rate accelerate. Suddenly she felt like the luckiest girl in the world.

Bobby was here too, and he looked over at the couple. She caught his small smile, but he turned away before she could interpret what it meant. Although it was not hard to guess. Bobby had been there from the beginning, she almost laughed out loud at her thoughts. The man now acting as her personal physician had had front row seats to the relationship that was growing between her and Vince. That should have made her feel a bit self-conscious, but it didn't. Bobby was starting to feel like a best friend. She had never had many friends, but she knew that she could use one and she was glad it was Bobby Brown.

Chet Grayson took his place at the end of the table. He was a quiet man. Tall and built like all of these men seemed to be. That was a detail that no one could miss. She was used to being around soldiers, and she knew the characteristics that they shared. Strong, willful, arrogant, violent. These had been some of the words that she had described the men she'd worked with in the Army. At first look, she could have lumped the rangemen in with those Army men, but it had not taken long to realize that they were so different.

Sure these men were certainly strong, powerful, commanding. But she had sensed something that she rarely encountered before. A sense of justice, a quiet power that said that they would protect their own and see to it that the right thing was done. Even if it was in their own way. It was easy to like these men she had only just met.

Her attention came back to Vince. His sense of fair, of what's right had brought him into her life. Her bad experiences with men should have had her defenses up, like they usually were. It had become second nature to protect herself. To guard her heart. But he had in slipped under her shield, had worked his way into her heart almost immediately. Her eyes glistened with the joy she felt when she was with him. If you had asked her a week ago if she believed in love at first sight, she would have laughed in your face. Today, she had never been so glad to be wrong in her entire life. Reluctantly she let her attention turn to the man at the head of the table.

Ranger, he was the man in charge. He was in command of the discussion at the moment. Just then, his eyes met hers and she wondered if she had missed something, did he ask her a question? Immediately she tuned back into the discussion.

"Miss Pennington will help us with a description of the man who attacked her." She heard Ranger say. Suddenly all eyes were on her. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Vince reached under the table and grabbed her hand. A silent show of support, and the reasons she was falling for him washed over her again.

With care to include as many details as she could, Bobbie proceeded to describe the brick wall of a man who had tried to kill her. It was not as difficult as she had feared. Part of her military training may have helped with her composure, the ability to compartmentalize was a trick that was taught early for a good reason. It helped as she answered the questions being thrown at her by the men seated opposite her at the table. Erik, she remembered, and the one with the tattoo on his head was Cal. The guy next to him was… Hal, she forced herself to remember. Would she ever be able to keep all of these names straight?

There was also a man with a sketch book. Gene, that was his name. She knew that he wanted to use her description to draw up a likeness of the perpetrator. But she feared that her information was not going to be enough to help. Her only glimpse of his face had been through a bunch of balloons. All she had were images, impressions. But as they led her through a series of questions, she was amazed to find that she had noticed more that she thought.

Dark hair, dark eyes. large nose, wide face. Gene worked his magic and when he held up the sketch, it knocked the breath out of her lungs. She had seen that face, just before he swung around and tried to strangle her from behind. Vince saw the look on Bobbie's face. His grip on her hand increased. If he could have, he would have removed those memories from her mind. It killed him to see her eyes, knowing that the memories would always bring her pain.

Her reaction was noted by Erik and Gene as well. They knew that the likeness was close enough if it could affect her that way.

III

The kitchen was a mess. He finally took stock of the things he would have to work with in the house. The storms had broken all the windows, glass and bits of wood were everywhere. But the appliances worked. The small pantry was surprisingly full of canned food, that was a bonus.

At first he had hoped that he would have the building to himself. But now he was glad that the owners in the corner unit had decided to move back in. Apparently they had been here long enough to have made all the repairs that were needed, and to restore the interior. Of course he did not care about their efforts to renovate their home.

He was primarily interested in the fact that they had turned back on their services. Electricity and water and most importantly, the internet. For those reasons, and those reasons alone, he would put up with the neighbors. Fortunately another unit was between his place and theirs, so it would be easy to remain mostly hidden. And he would be, as long as they did not notice that one of their industrial extension cords had been plugged into their outside outlet and stretched to the kitchen window down the way. Or that the hose in the back had also been redirected. One thing they would never notice was that he had hacked into their wireless internet.

With his basic needs taken care of, he was able to get back to the job at hand. Kill Stephanie plum.

III

Floyd Walton had no particular skills of his own to make him a valuable asset to the criminal groups in the greater Trenton area. He was a short man, slight of build and had facial features that reminded one of a pet puppy. From all appearances, he was not a threat to anyone at all. But Floyd had something that everyone needed. The man owned property. Not prime real estate by any stretch of the imagination, but an abundance of rental units all around the city.

His duplexes and small apartment buildings provided two things that made Floyd so important. A steady positive cash flow, and the ability to give men like Itai a place to stay. As a matter of fact, it was one of these apartments that he was staying in now.

The one thing that made him an asset to RangeMan today was that Floyd Walton was a hands-on manager. He visited each of his properties every week. Hal was Floyds shadow today. He took meticulous notes about the location and other pertinent facts of each of Walton's units. He was amazed at the amount of property that the man had acquired. He could be a wealthy business man, if he had turned his talents to a purpose other than helping out the bad guys.

With so much time on his hands, Hal let his mind wonder what had happened to Floyd Walton to make him turn out like this. He was smart, savvy, and capable. Why did he let himself be used this way? He watched as Walton stopped in front of yet another apartment building. This one probably had four units in it. Hal took out his notebook and started making his notes. This made location number nine, and he knew that doing surveillance on this number of properties could take a lot of man hours. At the end of the day and after six more stops. It became apparent that they were going to have to narrow down Itai's location another way, or go an entirely different route to find the man who shot Stephanie.

Leaving Floyd at his personal residence, Hal headed back to RangeMan. He would have to talk this through with Erik and Ranger. There had to be a better way. it would have to be essential to find Itai to go through the trouble. He sighed as he made his way back. He had the feeling that this just might end up like so many other leads had in this case. In a dead end.

III

Laughter from the break room could be heard all the way down the hall. Stephanie followed the sounds and found the room full of her friends. In the center of the crowd was Vince with a girl that she had never met, but that she knew had to be Bobbie Pennington. She hung back, listening to the stories that Vince was encouraging Bobbie to tell. She smiled, no wonder they were all in here, the girl had a talent for spinning her tales and drawing them all into her stories. It was fun to listen to her. Stephanie knew that they all shared the military background, and even though she didn't, the stories were still fascinating.

Behind her, Stephanie heard someone else inter the room. Ella was rolling in her cart full of prepared lunch foods and snacks. Her famous bread basket was full, almost to overflowing and the aroma immediately filled the room. As Ella busied herself by putting the food into the fridge and the cupboards, the men's attention was turned to the tempting cuisine.

"Are you hungry Bobbie?" Vince asked. She hadn't been, she had just finished another bottle of water. Bobby seemed intent on making everyone drink one of those things every hour of every day. But the mouthwatering scents from the hot bread was too tempting to deny, so she nodded her head. He left the table to grab some food for them, and when he returned, he had Ella in tow.

"Bobbie, I'd like you to meet Ella Guzman," he said, pulling the chair out and assisting Ella to be seated. "Ella, this is Bobbie Pennington." The ladies shook hands and Vince briefly explained, in glowing terms, that Ella was the one who took care of them here. Ella blushed at all his praise.

"So, I have you to thank for the thoughtful items that were in my bedroom when I got here," Bobbie said with a smile. "Thank you so much for making me feel welcome. This is a new thing for me."

Again Ella blushed under the appreciative looks from Vince and Bobbie. "No hay de que," she said, before she realized that she had spoken in Spanish. Immediately she interpreted, "It was nothing."

"Oh, Ella, no debes decir esto," Bobbie said. "En verdad, estoy muy agradecida for tu ayuda."

At the look that Vince gave her, Bobbie said, "She shouldn't be so modest. I was truly grateful for the kindness she showed me through her work."

He had just glimpsed another facet in her personality, and Vince was more convinced than ever that discovering these things about her could take a lifetime. He was not at all surprised to realize that he wanted to spend that lifetime with her.

III

It felt strange and a bit foolish standing here in the same spot that he'd been when shots had been fired into the midst of the rangemen. But it was the perfect vantage point to watch the comings and goings from the garage. His expertise showed, as he quickly and effortlessly installed the sophisticated camera equipment under the window sill. It would not be noticeable if, on the off chance, someone came up here looking around, but it would give him a closed circuit view of the activity across the street.

He checked the feed, and double checked the power source and then he left. This few minutes spent here was going to give him the ability to keep an eye on Ms. Plum. He moved quickly away from the area. He couldn't help but be nervous, and it followed him all the way back to the condo.

But those feelings dissipated the moment he turned on his laptop and watched the screen. A black truck pulled up to the opening and waited for the gate to open. He was able to clearly see the driver. And though the passenger was more difficult to see, they were visible. However, he realized that if someone was in the back seat, they would not be visible. The darkly tinted windows effectively cut out any view. He was concerned about that. But overall, he was pleased with his work, and began his surveillance.

This was the first step in formulating his new plan. He had been forced into to using more drastic measures because Stephanie had stopped making or even receiving phone calls. All the information he had been getting from her conversations was gone. And although he had tried, he could not tap into the phones in the RangeMan building. The security measures that they had taken to prevent that were phenomenal. Even he had been impressed. But since it gave him no alternative, he resorted to these present measures. With a bowl of chips and salsa, and a bottle of beer, he settled in to see what was happening in the garage. Soon he would have the information he needed to devise his next plan.

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	19. Chapter 19

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Chapter 19

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After hearing some of Bobbies incredible tales, Gene left the break room with an idea niggling at the back of his brain. He headed straight for Erik's desk. As he thought he would, he found Erik pouring over data and pounding his keyboard pulling up information on the computer screen illuminated in front of him.

Erik was one of the best at what he did. His persistent nature compelled him to search harder and deeper, never giving up until he found what he needed. That was what he was doing now. He was getting so close to that piece of information that they needed. The one detail that would make it all fall into place.

But Gene knew that he needed to get Erik out from behind the computer. Time to do a little recon. That's what one of Bobbie's little tales reminded him to do. He grabbed him and pulled him up. Dragging him toward the stairs. He still had not said a single word. But Erik knew Gene. He was a man of few words and lived by his actions. Wherever they were headed, he knew it was important. But he would never have guessed that they would be ending up where all of this began for them.

Across the street and up a few flights of stairs, they came back to the window where the shots had come from. They had seen the flash from his gun. It had been a source of frustration that they had not been quick enough to get to him before he disappeared. Even now, returning to the scene, their irritation over that fact grated on them.

Erik was wondering just what Gene had in mind, bringing him up here. He watched as, Gene stopped at the window. He looked through it to the garage entrance now across the street from them.

"This is an excellent vantage point, don't you think?" Gene turned his head to look at his partner. Of course Erik agreed. So what? Gene's gaze returned to the window.

"It occurred to me, this guy could have been up here, scoping us out for a while, before setting up his surprise for Stephanie." Erik followed Gene's gaze, and nodded slowly. He moved over to stand next to him by the window. Yes, from a strategic standpoint, it would have been the best thing to do. The cogs in his brain were turning.

"So, if he did not obtain his objective. Then why would he give up his advantage, especially now that Stephanie is staying here," Erik said slowly, backing away from the window, looking at it from every angle he could.

"He wouldn't." Gene agreed with him and watched his mind working it out. It didn't take long, he saw it the moment it flashed in his eyes. Still he stood in place and nodded when Erik stepped forward again.

"He would want to keep his surveillance up," Erik was saying. "He needs to see when Stephanie leaves. He thinks that she will sometime soon, he has to be ready." He knelt down, this was the optimum angle. His fingers explored the window frame. Above and below the sill. Gene smiled. Erik knew exactly what to look for. Where was the equipment hidden? Then he saw it.

The window had been open when they were here before, it had confirmed that this was the place the shots had come from. Now the window was closed. Because of a labor dispute, the construction that had been going on in this building had been halted months ago. If no workers had been here to close the window, then he had been back. Erik was putting the pieces together.

He opened the window. Immediately he leaned forward and looked under the sill. There it was. One of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment that he had ever seen. Whoever his contact was must be tapped into military sources. This was state of the art. It was tiny and it was powerful, and it was enclosed in a protective case that exactly matched the color of the side if the building. It would not have been visible from the street. Erik was impressed, but he was hating this guy more and more.

He could only imagine that the picture that was being transmitted was coming in clear and perfect. And it would never stop transmitting, the power source was tied into the ground wires of the building. Even turning off the power would not stop the flow of electricity. He hated that it was so well planned out. Another indication that this guy was intelligent, making him very dangerous.

He stepped back inside and motioned to Gene to take a look. Yep, it was what he had thought. Now what were they going to do about it?

If they pulled it out, he would know they were on to him. What if they left it here? What if they put on a show for him now? A look was all it took, and they both turned and walked back to RangeMan.

IIIII

Leaning back in the kitchen chair, his eyes became heavy and his sight was starting to get blurry. He had been watching the live feed for hours. Nothing was happening. His patience was wearing thin. He was a man of action. This waiting was killing him. Standing and pacing the room, he kept one eye on the screen. He grabbed another beer, he threw together a sandwich. He let his mind wander, playing with ideas of what might happen if Stephanie Plum ever left the building. It was only then that a smile came to his thin lips. Each scenario was more ruthless than the last, all this waiting was going to pay off. And then he would have his revenge. He settled back into his chair and kept up the vigil. Watching. Waiting. When he would get a bit impatient, he would say his mantra over and over in his head. 'Steady as she goes….' "Stephanie Plum will die!'

III

He knew that she liked to be involved as much as possible, but when he saw how worn out Stephanie had looked this morning, he had suggested that she get a few more hours of sleep. She had not protested at all, just rolling over on her good side and curling up with his pillow. Ranger smiled when that picture came back into his mind. She had looked so small, so innocent hugging the pillow in that huge bed. He wondered if he should go up and check on her. He left his office and headed toward the stairs.

Voices carried from the break room, and he heard Stephanie's laugh. He loved that sound and he followed it in to the room. A group of his men was surrounding a table in the center of the room where Bobbie and Vince sat. They were all encouraging Bobbie to continue with the story that she was telling.

Stephanie was sitting on top of a table by the door, she had her feet on the chair and was leaning forward, her body language indicting that she was part of the group and very interested in the tales being told.

He walked up behind her and bent to wrap his arms around her waist. She straightened immediately and turned her head. "Hi Carlos," she whispered. He helped her stand and continued to hold her, her back to his front with his arms wrapped around her waist. She placed her hands on top of his and squeezed. Melting back into him a bit more, she was feeling content and very relaxed.

'It just doesn't get any better than this,' she thought. Here in the arms of the man she loved. Surrounded by the people she loved and finally being able to listen to stories of another person's mishaps. She was safe and content. And she had never been happier.

At the end of the story, the room erupted with laughter. Bobbie smiled, almost shyly, and Vince pulled her chair just a little closer to his so that he could wrap his arms around her. An unspoken and unmistakable signal that story time was over. Her tales of missions gone wrong and practical jokes that she had seen played on the guys in her unit were keeping everyone very entertained. As happy as he was that all of his friends here at RangeMan had accepted her and welcomed her into the group, Vince was kind of wanting to spend some time alone with her before his shift started. They needed to have some time to get to know each other better, just the two of them.

He did not have long to wait. One by one, the guys left to go back to work. That left him sitting with Bobbie, looking over at Ranger and Stephanie, the only two people still in the room. At first it looked like there was something that Ranger wanted, so Vince hesitated before attempting to stand and escort Bobbie back to their apartment. But as he watched, Ranger said something to Stephanie that he could not hear. She nodded. Ranger looked briefly at Vince, offering a slight nod to say goodbye, and then they left.

Finding themselves alone in the room, Vince pulled Bobbie close and whispered something in her ear too. She stood up immediately and grabbed his hand. She led him out of the room and down to the apartment.

Spending time alone with the one you love seemed to be the order of the day.

III

Erik and Gene had been called back to the conference room later, after they got back from their little field trip. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. They had some news for Ranger. Walking into the room, they found Stephanie and Ranger already sitting at the table. Gene's sketch book was sitting in front of her. They understood immediately and took their seats. Their news could wait a few minutes. Erik actually found himself holding his breath, they were about to find out the identity of the man they were searching for.

Gene leaned forward and placed his hand on the cover of the book. He looked up at Ranger who nodded slightly. Then he smiled at Stephanie. "Are you ready Steph?" he asked.

Ranger had told her what had happened in the meeting today. About the description that Bobbie was able to give them. She was as ready as any of them to see what the sketch looked like. She nodded and gene opened the book. Her eyes scanned the face on the page for a long moment, but the impression had been there immediately.

"Calder," she said. She stood up and started pacing. Running her fingers through her hair, she looked distressed. Gene looked at her, and then looked at Ranger. Then he looked at Erik who shrugged his shoulders.

"Babe, are you okay?"

She stopped and looked at him. She sat back in her chair and stared at the sketch. Unconsciously she was twisting her hands in agitation. "I remember him Ranger," she said. "Calder Maddux."

Erik was scribbling into his small notebook. He remembered the name too. But it had not initially been on his short list, not until they heard Bobbie's description of him. Erik had then moved his name up to the top of the list. He had been right.

Stephanie continued to speak, in an uncharacteristically monotone voice. "He didn't have any priors, so Vinnie gave him to me." She looked up at Ranger, "He probably should have given him to you, he was a mean son of a bitch!" All three men hid their smiles as Stephanie blushed over using the expletive referring to Maddux.

She stopped talking, her memories taking her someplace that the others in the room could not join her. When her breathing became a little irregular, and her faced seemed to pale a bit, Ranger took her hand and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him, in a show of support.

"Steph." He said, concern lacing his voice. She finally looked up at him. She shook her head slowly, letting him know that there was nothing wrong.

"He liked to play games," she said. "Cat and mouse kinds of games, to play with your mind."

Her eyes focused on her hand, still wrapped in Ranger's. "He never said one single word to me," "But I know that he hated me. It was in his eyes."

"That was over a year ago, didn't he go to prison?" she finally asked, looking at Gene, then at Erik and then Ranger.

It seemed that she did not want to accept that Maddux could be after her. As if the thought was too terrible. But she did explain that his games always included some form of a devise. He had smoke bombed her car, had set off fire cracker type things to distract her. He even found a way to make her cell phone chirp at her constantly, kept her from sleeping for several days. Of course she couldn't prove it, but she had somehow known that it was him.

"How did you bring him in?" Ranger asked the question they all had in their minds.

She shrugged. "It all worked out one day," she said. If she had noticed the raised eyebrows, she did not acknowledge it. "He drove an old rust colored car," she said. "It had a slow leak in the front tire and was always a bit flat." The confused looks on their faces told her that she needed to offer more of an explanation.

"He was into details and high tech stuff, you know?" "I figured that he would feel the need to get it fixed so I camped out across the street from Jerry's Repair Shop. It was the only small, cash only place in the burg. It seemed like the kind of place he would go." She shrugged again. She tried to explained that she didn't know if it was instinct, woman's intuition, or a hunch. She did not know what to call it, but that was what told her that he was the kind of guy who would not want his name on some data base from a franchise operation. She already knew from her skip search that he did not pay with credit cards, it all fit. The men in the room remained silent. What could they say? She had proved to them once again that her skills defied description.

"There was a deli there," she continued. "I was eating lunch while I watched the place. And just after Calder drove his car in, Eddie showed up at the deli. Maddux saw the patrol car and started to take off. Eddie and I chased him, I ended up tripping him and Eddie was able to cuff him and take him in for me."

The three men in the room were astounded, again, by Stephanie's luck. Ranger shook his head. The guy was twice as big as Stephanie, and she had been going after him on her own. He was eternally grateful that Eddie had shown up when he did.

She shuddered slightly. "I will never forget the look he gave me when Eddie stuffed him into his car. The hatred for me was in his eyes." "It creeped me out, still creeps me just thinking about it."

"Well," Ranger finally spoke. "How do we find him this time?" the question was directed at the room in general.

Gene and Erik looked at each other. Their discovery might just answer that question.

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	20. Chapter 20

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Chapter 20

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Laughter was coming from the break room again. It seemed that now that Bobbie was here, it was becoming the place that everyone wanted to hang out. Bobbie was a master storyteller and she seemed to have an endless supply of incredible tales. But it was Tank telling stories this time and everyone was nearly in tears. Stephanie was holding her sides, laughing so hard it was almost painful.

His low voice was rumbling as he was unable to contain his own laughter as he related the incident. He had just returned from Vinnie's office. Tank usually took the assignment himself, especially lately, to go and sign some contracts while picking up more FTA files. Everyone knew that he liked to be in charge of the paperwork. They also were aware of the fact that he and Lula had rekindled their relationship, and he liked to drop in and see her whenever he could.

He had also been concerned about her new job description, he wasn't sure if he was excited about her going after FTAs. Lula had a tendency to wave her gun around, one that she had not been trained to use, and did not have a proper concealed permit for. All things considered, he was much happier when she was filing in the office, but he would never tell her that. No need to poke the bear.

His visit to the office to see Lula this morning is what inspired this latest amusing story. After he had picked up the folders and had taken care of the urgent paperwork, a screeching car drew their attention outside. Lula and Connie raced to the door to see Vinnie struggling to get out of his car. Swearing up a storm and shaking his arms and legs to rid them of the bits and pieces of food that were still sticking onto him, he walked up to the office.

Sweet and sour sauce was slowly dripping off the top of his head and down his neck. His silky shirt was sticking to his skinny frame, emphasizing his sunken chest. Cabbage and rice was dropping with every step. The look on Vinnie's face was priceless. He was angry and disgusted at the same.

Lula was howling, she had not seen such a mess since Carl Coglin's exploding road kill.

"What happened?" Connie was just able to ask through her tears of laughter. Vinnie did not answer immediately, he continued to stalk towards his office door. "Got a body receipt for me?" she asked. She just couldn't resist taunting him a bit. She was absolutely certain that if he'd had one, he would have jumped out of the car waving it in their faces, no matter how much garbage he was wearing.

Vinnie's eyes grew narrow, and he stopped in his tracks. He spun on his heel and looked at Connie. "No, I don't have a receipt, and you wanna know why?" "I'll tell you why!" "Because Denny ShanYuan didn't want to have his lunch disturbed, he did not want to speak with me and he certainly did not want to be cuffed and dragged to the police station."

His rant continued, "How do I know that he did not want any of those things?" "Because he told me so, with every plate of food he threw at me." "Moo shoo pork, shrimp lo mien, sweet and sour chicken. He threw it all at me."

"It was hot, and sloppy and slimey. And yeah, I was distracted for a minute by it. Denny started to run, I tried to catch him, but I slipped on the mess and landed on my ass." His voice ramped up a couple of notches. "On my ass in a pile of food on the floor." He held up a foot to look at his expensive Italian leather shoes. "They are ruined," he said looking like he was going to cry. But he sort of shrugged instead. "These are not the right shoe to go skip tracing in," he said almost to himself. "I slipped three times just trying to get up. By then ShanYuan was out the door and off to who knows where."

"So, no. I did not get a body receipt," he yelled, as he went in to his office and slammed the door.

The break room broke out in laughter. "I would have paid good money to see that," Stephanie said, with tears in her eyes. "I can't even count how many times he told me that I must be doing something wrong if I end up covered in garbage." "I would have loved to see his face!"

III

After a brief meeting with Erik and Gene, Ranger called in his core team. Everyone at RangeMan had heard by now, that the man they were looking for was Calder Maddux. A relative unknown because of his past success at not getting caught. However, he could no longer enjoy his anonymity, they were on to him now and it would only be a matter of time before they met up with him personally.

Ranger turned the meeting over to Gene and Erik. He sat back and watched the faces of his men. They liked the idea of playing with this guy, making him squirm until they could get him where they wanted him. He could see the satisfaction they all now had, knowing who they were after, and the determination in their eyes to make this man pay. The plans were being discussed and they came up with a list of information that they needed.

A-They did not know where he was hiding. They needed to find out.

B-What kind of transportation was he using. How quickly would he be able to respond when he saw what he wanted from his surveillance camera.

C-Where was he getting his equipment, and what did he have available to use against Stephanie this time. They wanted his source. Not only to learn what he was buying, but to also shut them down.

The discussions continued. It was time to figure out exactly what they were dealing with. How crazy was this guy and how could they stop him. And they all liked the idea of messing with him. He deserved payback. Every one of the men in this room, with the exception of Ranger, had been pelted with paint balls. As much as they were ready and willing to defend Stephanie and Bobbie, this war was personal!

Plans finalized, assignments made, the meeting dispersed. They were going to get this guy, and they were going to have some fun while doing it.

III

Staring out of the picture window of the living room, Stephanie was restless. She knew when she came here, that there would be times when staying in one place would make her crazy. This had all the markings of one of those times. She was alone, Ranger was out on an appointment. She couldn't distract herself by running down to see him. She had not had any real processed, refined sugar in days, dreams of doughnuts were swirling around inside her head. She had been rotating through the same three outfits and wearing the same pair of shoes since she got here. Apparently when they were told to pack her things, the guys went for the lingerie drawer first and then they thought like a man, getting a good solid pair of shoes and just a few changes of clothing. Either that or they couldn't find anything because she had not brought home the clothes her mother was washing for her again and they had not had much to choose from. She could not remember now. All she knew was that she was tired of the clothes she was wearing. She wanted to feel pretty again. For herself. For Ranger.

Suddenly a smile started slowly at the corners of her mouth. It quickly spread, she knew just what to do. With a sudden burst of energy, she turned and walked to the door, grabbing the key fob on her way out. Taking the stairs, she made her way to the break room.

As she had hoped, Bobbie was there. From the looks of things, she had just missed the story time, several of guys said 'hi' to her as they left the room. But that was okay. As much as she loved the stories, she just wanted to have someone to talk to. Someone who spoke her language.

All of a sudden feeling shy, Stephanie slowed down before approaching the table where Bobbie sat. Being bashful did not last long, however, Bobbie's warm smile gave her all the encouragement she needed to pull out a chair and sit down at the table.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked. It was a rhetorical question at this point because Bobbie's face was beaming.

"I've been dying to meet you," Bobbie said. "Come sit, take a load off."

In no time at all they were talking and giggling like lifelong friends, finding that they had many things in common. Including, but not limited to, an abnormal love of shoes. Neither one of them had come to RangeMan prepared to play dress up, and they loved having someone to talk to who understood just how much they missed it. Even if, under the circumstances it was to be expected.

"You've met Ella, haven't you?" Stephanie asked. Bobbie confirmed that she had with a nod. "Well, all we have to do is talk to her. Ella will go out and get whatever we ask her to, she is the best at taking care of her family."

Bobbie looked up suddenly at Stephanie, at her use of the word family. "Are you related to Ella?" she innocently asked. Stephanie couldn't help but bust out laughing. She had wondered the same thing about all the guys when she had first gotten to know them. Ella was a big part of their lives. She did everything she could for them. It seemed like a big family here. It was one of the things that she loved most about being here. They all looked out for each other.

It was all of these things that Stephanie now related to Bobbie. They were a family, of sorts, here. Stephanie even felt that they were more of a family than her own sometimes. It did not take long for Bobbie to completely understand what she was saying. She had had the chance to watch the men up close. Vince and Bobby had acted like brothers while they were taking care of her in the hospital, laughing and teasing each other. That same feeling was here too, all of the guys got along in a way that was unusual for a business. Like they had a bond, a deeper connection. It was something that she had loved being around.

While talking about family, it finally occurred to Stephanie to ask Bobbie about hers. Didn't someone mention that she had been at the hospital when her sister was there to have a baby?

"Is your family nearby?" Stephanie asked. Immediately she noticed the change in Bobbie's face. She missed her family, that much was obvious. Without much prodding from Stephanie, she told her all about her two sisters and her brother. It was her sister that was having a baby that brought Bobbie to Trenton. Ginny had been so excited to have her here. Bobbie had missed the last three. She had been out of the country each time. Jani had offered to let her stay with her, so it had been settled. Bobbie came to spend time with her sisters.

"Where is your brother?" Stephanie was over at the fridge grabbing two bottles of water when she asked that question. She didn't immediately see the look on Bobbies face when she did. But it was obvious when she sat down that it had changed something about her.

"Brian is stationed in Germany right now," she said softly. Stephanie was about to apologize for asking but Bobbie continued. "He is like Bobby, a medic." He helped me with my rehab when I was there. This time she did not continue. So Stephanie thought she should change the subject hoping to take her mind off of whatever happened with her brother.

"You know," she tried to say off handedly. "I am the only one around here that doesn't have any military experience."

Bobbie was shaking her head slightly as she answered. "That is not a club that you want to join."

Stephanie now realized that she had stumbled onto another subject that was sensitive for Bobbie. She had no idea why, but she was not about to start to pry. She wondered what had happened to her, but since Bobbie didn't offer any explanation for her statement, she didn't ask.

"So, how about them Mets." She said, and was relieved when Bobbie started laughing.

"Nice save," she said. "Sorry if I got a bit tense just then."

Stephanie decided to change the subject again. This time it was about something she already knew that Bobbie loved. Shopping! "Have you been to the Macy's here yet? We have got to go as soon as they clear us to leave."

Bobbie closed her eyes and with another smile said. "There is nothing quite like the feeling of stepping inside one of the dressing rooms with an armload of clothes that you would never buy, but that you always wanted to try on. Stephanie giggled. She knew exactly what she was talking about. She was loving Bobbie even more now. None of her friends had ever had the patience to let her just try stuff on. They were like her own mother, all business when it came to shopping. Get in get what you need get out. Even Lula only indulged in shoe shopping with her. But since she seemed to get her wardrobe from a mail catalog, she did not like to do the clothes shopping thing with her. And poor Mary Lou, she never had time to waste when they were out, she always had to get back to her boys.

They were nearly in tears, laughing over the sheer joy that they found in having a stack of shoe boxes, and trying on all kinds of shoes. Agreeing totally on the difficulty it can be to choose the right pair of shoes for specific occasions. Bobbie pushed out her chair and held both of her legs straight out in front of her. She was wearing her navy blue Doc Martens, they were the only pair of shoes that she had. In her haste, Jani had apparently forgotten to pack any shoes for her.

Stephanie followed her lead and held up her own feet. She was wearing the forest green Vans. They were leather and the only pair of shoes she owned that had not been touched with paint over the past month. The laughing continued over their discussion of favorite shoes. "Not sexy," Bobbie concluded, tapping her boots together. Stephanie nodding in agreement, as she stared at her own shoes.

They were both still in this position when Lester walked in. They looked up at him in surprise. And busted up when he had an indecipherable expression on his face and turned right around and left the room. They kept laughing, knowing how strange this must have looked to him.

III

Things seemed to be so quiet at the RangeMan building. He watched trucks come and go. Business as usual. But no Stephanie. Where was she? She was making no phone calls, and he had not seen her leave the building. What was she up to? At this rate, it was going to take years to find her.

It was time to make another move. He had realized that he was too far away. It was over 30 miles away, out here on the beach. His plans could be carried out so much better if he was nearby when Stephanie finally ventured out. He was getting so sick of stretching this thing out.

The surveillance could continue from wherever he and his laptop were. Yes, it was time to get down to business. All he wanted was to kill Stephanie Plum and get on with his life. The more he thought about it, the sooner he wanted to get out of here. The risk of being in the city was just one he would have to take. But he had a friend. There was one person he could count on to help him out.

A quick call to Floyd Walton, and his plans were set. He packed up what he needed and took it down to his car. As a final precaution, he carefully took the hose and the extension cords back to the neighbors. No sense in them ever knowing that he had been borrowing from them while he was here. He never liked to leave any loose ends. Always covering his tracks. He smiled his ugly, evil smile. He was on his way, to the last stop in his plan to kill Ms. Plum.

III

For the first time they could remember, the skies were clear in Trenton, NJ. The sun took advantage of the anomaly to create a spectacular display. From the roof, they were able to get a clear view of the burst of fiery colors lighting the horizon. As they watched from their vantage point, the lights dimmed and the colors faded. Finally the night sky created a canopy sprinkled with tiny pinpricks of light.

"I've never seen anything so beautiful," she said gazing up to the sky above them.

"No, neither have I," Vince said. Something in his voice made her look at him, and she realized that he had only been looking at her. Even in the dim lights, he could see her blush and it stirred something deep in his heart. He took her hand and led them down the stairs to their apartment.

With only the lights from the stereo to illuminate the room, Vince drew Bobbie into his arms. They danced to the soft music that was playing. Swaying to the rhythm, they moved together as one. With her cheek on his chest, Bobbie could feel the vibration as Vince hummed to the tune. She closed her eyes and reveled in the sensation. Vince was absently running his fingers through her hair, adding to the incredible reactions that she was experiencing.

Vince would have danced forever, to have her always in his arms. Nothing had ever made him feel this way, and he never wanted it to end. The song did end, however, and the dance with it. Bobbie took his hand and led him to the couch. She snuggled into his waiting arms and they talked late into the night.

She would have stayed like this forever. She had never had anyone affect her like this before. But like the first night they were here, the fatigue from her injuries made her drowsy. Her head was tucked into his shoulder and she fell asleep in his arms. And like that first night, Vince carried her to her bed.

An hour later, Vince was awakened. There was shouting in the other room. He raced in to see what was going on. But before he even opened her door, he knew. Bobbie was having a dream. One of those nightmares that seemed so real that it was hard to separate it from reality. With his experience in the army, and with friends who suffered from PTSD, he had seen this before and fortunately he knew exactly what to do. Quietly he walked through her door, and the shouting stopped.

"Report Lieutenant," Vince said in a soft, but authoritative voice.

Hovering somewhere between sleep and wake, she heard his voice and she recognized what he was doing. He could not wake her up outright, it would have been too much of a jolt to her, so he was entering her subconscious to lead her out if the nightmare. As it pulled her from the horrible dream, she felt her heart warm and swell for this man. She had never admitted to loving anyone before, but tonight, she knew that she loved Vince. It was crazy, it was too soon, it was perfect, it was right.

"Vince," she whispered, and he was immediately by her side. "Hold me?" her words were nearly inaudible, but he heard and he took her in his arms. Together they fell asleep. She felt safe and cared for, like never before. There were no more nightmares.

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	21. Chapter 21

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Chapter 21

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There was a buzz going around RangeMan. Plans were coming together. Some of the details still needed to be worked out, but for now there were some ground rules that the men needed to follow. They had all been instructed that only the core team could be visible as trucks left and then returned to the garage.

Everyone else needed to ride in the back seat where the dark tinting would keep them hidden. They only wanted Calder Maddux to get acquainted with a small number of the rangemen. There were several elements of the plan that depended on the other men having anonymity to carry them out.

Mind games were only one of the weapons in their arsenal. As the resident scientist, and munitions expert, Gene was preparing some explosive surprises for Maddux. His expertise was so rarely needed, that he was excited to have the excuse to play with his own toys.

While Gene was tucked away in his 'laboratory', Other rangemen were busy perfecting their own skills. Down in the shooting range, Roy Brandt was concentrating on the target that was as far away as he could make it, simulating a 600 meter shot. It may have not been ideal, he would need an outdoor range for the best results, but this would do for now. Roy was an expert, he was known as the best sniper in the Rangers for years. This practice session was not to improve his skills, rather it was just an excuse to play with his weapon of choice.

Roy lined up his scope. The long powerful fingers on his left hand curled around his weapon, holding it steady. He placed his right index finger on the trigger. Taking a deep breath and letting it blow out slowly, he squeezed the trigger. The sharp crack of the shot quickly faded in a dull echo. He didn't have to reel the target back in to see that he had made a perfect head shot. He did not miss his mark. Roy never missed.

The men were so close that they could taste it. They all wanted their chance at this guy. But business had to go on, so they kept to the routines. Trucks came and went all day long. Lester and Bobby alternated with Tank and Cal and Hector to sit in the front seats to keep the appearances going. They were kept busy as they had to keep up with the scheduled patrols and surveillance.

Ranger stayed in the building for the most part, only leaving when he had appointments that could not be rescheduled. His office was visited regularly by Stephanie. A hug offered the chance to relax and get lost in each other, if even for just a few moments. It was enough to get them through the hectic schedules.

Although her strength had not been completely built back up, Stephanie had been able to convince Ranger and Bobby that her help was needed right now. Searches and skip traces were getting behind with the added burden of playing the game with Calder Maddux. She argued that she was recovered enough that she could sit at a desk and help with the pile of work.

"Rodriguez is not slowing down, no matter how much other stuff is going on," she explained with a smile. "Please let me help."

It was Ranger's turn to smile. She had used the 'please' ploy with him. She knew he couldn't turn her down, any more than she could deny him when he used that word. Under the circumstances, she was right. They needed the help, and she was more than capable of doing it. Before he knew it, she had stationed herself in one of the cubicles and started the searches running.

It wasn't until later that first day that Ranger noticed that Stephanie had also trained Bobbie to help in the workload. 'Of course', he thought, he should have expected that. This was second nature for Bobbie, the searches would be child's play for someone with her experience. But she gracefully offered to help and she followed Stephanie's instructions to a tee. Between the two of them, the piles of folders were dwindling down and they were almost caught up with the work by the end of the day. They made an unbeatable team.

III

Following instincts was not exactly second nature for most military men. They were trained to follow orders. It was as simple as that, and for Hal, that was the experience that he knew. Of course, everyone always told stories about moments of intuition, of gut feelings that led to amazing rescues and other magnificent moments in military history. The stories were great to hear, very inspiring, but being the good soldier that he was, he knew that he would never be expected to have any of those miraculous moments. Save those for the fearless leaders.

That attitude had been fine for him. Had served him well for a long time. But something was different today. He felt a nervousness in his stomach, unlike anything he'd experienced before. His mind was full of ideas, thoughts that he could not control. And the urge, the desire to do something completely out of character for him finally took over.

"Sorry Chet," he said as he turned on the next corner and drove off in a totally different direction. He knew that the man next to him would keep his opinions to himself, for a while. He would wait to see what Hal was up to, and then he would hear what he had to say about it. So without another word they headed to the other part of town. His partner had noticed that Hal was not quite himself this morning. His forehead wrinkled in thought. The tight grip he had on the steering wheel that was turning his knuckles white. The way he kept looking around and checking the rearview mirror. He knew something was up, and he fully expected Hal to explain his actions soon.

Pulling up to the curb down the street from Floyd Walton's house, Hal suddenly felt stupid. He knew that the team had taken his earlier recommendation that surveillance on the Walton properties would not be an effective way to find information. Now here he was.

What if this feeling in his gut was just an upset stomach from breakfast this morning? Abandoning their assignment was a little drastic for having a hunch. What if he was wrong? He would be having words with everyone starting with Chet and going all the way up to Tank, if he was lucky. The possibility that Ranger could yell at him too, or worse take him to the mats for disregarding orders loomed in front of him. He started to sweat.

They sat for a long moment. Nothing happened. Chet looked over at Hal. But Hal stared straight ahead. That gut feeling was still with him. He was not going to pretend that he understood exactly what it was trying to tell him. All he could say was that it felt important to listen.

In the middle of the dialog going on inside his head, Hal's attention was directed to the side door of Floyd's house. There was Floyd himself with a box of supplies in his arms. They watched as the small man made several trips from his house to his car. From the looks of it, he was either moving, or getting stuff together to get one of his properties ready for someone else to move into. Bingo! He said silently. Let's see where Floyd is going to take us.

Being a rangeman required that one learns some basic skills. These skills become second nature and can be done without having to think about them. There was now a satisfied expression being shared by Chet and Hal. From a safe distance they watched as Floyd took a random route to his destination. He was attempting to assure himself that no one was following him. They knew this technique, and if it had been anyone else trying to trail him he may have lost them a couple of times. As it was, they arrived to see him park his car outside of the property that was number 12 on Hal's list.

Floyd was expecting someone to be coming soon. What were the chances that it could be Itai? With his preparations Floyd had narrowed it down for them to the one property that would be worth watching. Now Chet turned to Hal and nodded. It was time to inform Tank what they had found. No one was going to believe where they were right now.

III

Down the hall Bobby cracked a smile when he heard the distinct grunt and thud of someone big getting thrown down to the mat. It was noisy in the gym this morning. In addition to the sparring going on in the center of the room, several of the men were busy with the free weights and Stephanie was on the treadmill. He had expected to find her here, but Bobby was surprised to see who was walking next to her. Bobbie was actually walking at twice the rate as Stephanie, but her long strides made it seem as if she just kept pace with her. He had to smile; she was getting a great workout and was still able to chat with Stephanie while she was at it. It looked like his patients were both doing very well.

Bobby checked their pulse readouts on the machines, and sat back to observe. He joined in their conversation the way he usually did with Stephanie. Before long they were laughing at each other's stories. Although Bobbie did seem to be totally engaged in their banter, her eyes kept wandering to the sparring mat. As soon as Bobby saw that it was Vince over there, he understood why. It also explained the smile she would sometimes get, that seemed completely unrelated to whatever they had been talking about.

"Who-a!" she yelled suddenly.

Bobbie startled everyone with her call. Vince looked up from the mats. He had just taken Cal down hard and he grinned at her obvious show of support for his efforts. Most of the men knew of her background in the army. But it still surprised them to hear that shout in a feminine voice here at RangeMan. Stephanie started laughing, she had never seen all the guys speechless like they seemed to be now. Bobbie looked around and shrugged. But when her eyes found Vince again, all she could do was let her smile spread from ear to ear.

III

Another night, another sunset. Thin clouds stretched across the sky softened the intensity of the colors. It was nothing like the one he had seen last night. This one Vince was watching from the front seat of a RangeMan SUV. He far preferred being with Bobbie.

As the sun receded, shadows started growing and darkening. One by one the lights came on in the houses surrounding Walton's property. Vince felt like he had been here forever, when in truth it had only been close to the four hours that he and Roy had been assigned to do the surveillance. Nothing had happened. The lights never went on. No movement anywhere up or down this street.

In spite of himself, Vince watched the side mirror for signs that the next team was arriving. It only made the time seem to drag on more slowly so he once again redirected his gaze to the empty house across the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of Roy's hand. It seemed that he was scoping out the best vantage point to get a good shot. The corners of his mouth turned up in amusement. Roy was the best sniper he had ever known. And at this moment, Vince could tell that even just the thought of shooting someone was making him happy.

His cell phone beeped twice and he looked down at it before checking out the rear view mirror. The signal let him know the team he was waiting for was here, and he could see the SUV pull up behind him without their lights on. Vince gave the answering beeps and pulled away from the curb allowing the other vehicle to move into place before he turned on his headlights and drove down the street. He hoped that they had more luck than he and Roy had.

"Let's roll," Roy said. These were the first words he had spoken since the surveillance began and Vince nodded in agreement. The sooner he could get back to Bobbie the better.

III

Halfway back to Trenton he wished that he could have burned down the condo. It was always so satisfying to see the flames lapping at the sides of the buildings, destroying everything in their way. This had not been the right time for it, so he had simply driven away and never looked back.

His thoughts then focused on his destination. He narrowed his eyes, a furrow in his brow over the fact that he was reduced to relying on Floyd Walton for his next hide out. He was not used to working with anyone, he was a one man show and he preferred it that way. But when Floyd told him that he could find a location within a mile of the RangeMan building, he knew he had to give in on this one and let him arrange everything for him.

If only Itai was so cooperative, he thought. He had not yet received confirmation from him that his latest order was complete. That would be his first job in the morning, but tonight he just wanted to sneak into town and get his surveillance set up again. With any luck tomorrow he would get his revenge. It would finally be the day that the bounty hunter dies.

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	22. Chapter 22

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Chapter 22

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It was a short trip back to RangeMan after his shift ended. All Vince could think about was getting back to Bobbie. How is it, he wondered that he could miss her so much. They had barely known each other for a week. But he couldn't get her off his mind. They pulled into the garage but he had not really been paying much attention, sitting in the back seat it was easy to let your mind wander.

But as soon as they parked, Vince was on his way up to the apartment. Despite the lateness of the hour, he was sure that Bobbie would still be awake. If for no other reason than to see him back safely before she went to bed. She had said something like that before he left. That thought warmed his heart in a way he had never felt before. He could not wait to see her.

When he opened the door, he heard something that he never would have expected to hear in this building. He walked forward, following the sound, wondering where it was coming from. It led him to the kitchen nook where he found Bobbie sitting with her laptop in front of her on the table.

His footsteps had not been heard and he stopped, nearly frozen in place. He didn't want to disturb her yet. Her back was to him and it gave him a chance to watch Bobbie without her knowing it. Vince watched as she reached her hand up to the screen, her finger lightly touching the image of her brand new nephew. His soft cooing sounds filled the room, doing something strange to his entire system.

Slowly he sat in the chair next to her. She looked up at him, and he saw the tears in her eyes. "Isn't he beautiful?" she whispered. Her gaze went back to the screen. "Jani spent all day with the kids, she sent me this, Ginny wanted me to see how much he has already grown!

She looked up at him again, her golden brown eyes sparkling with both happiness and tears. Vince knew in that moment just how important her family was to her. He supposed that he could understand, but his own family experiences had been so different from hers.

He had had sisters once too. When he was two years old, they had been killed in a fire that had destroyed the family home. In fact he was the only survivor. Everything that he knew about the tragedy was information given to him second hand and without much emotion. Raised by his paternal grandfather he had not been told anything until he was old enough to ask about his mother or his father. Then he was told to forget about it and move on with his life. A harsh statement to give to a shy, nine year old boy trying to understand his place in the world. But his grandfather was an army vet, he had never been able to get over the death of his son, let alone figure out a way to deal with a small child. So he did not speak to him much.

The results could have been predicted. As a boy, Vince separated himself from everyone, he was a loner. Partly because he was so shy, and partly because he did not feel like he belonged anywhere. Joining the military seemed like a logical choice given his grandfather's background and, as it turned out, it was good choice for him. It gave him a family, or at least a place where he knew he was accepted.

If he thought about it, that was the reason that he was here, at RangeMan. He belonged here, his Ranger 'brothers' brought him in. They were his family. A family, he now realized that had so easily accepted Bobbie into their ranks. A family that Bobbie had embraced as her own too. He hadn't realized how important that was until right now.

He suddenly understood how she felt and he draped an arm around her shoulders. "He is amazing," Vince said softly. Everything that he had been so excited to come home to was right here. All wrapped up in this woman who had such a capacity to love. Bobbie had mended a part of his heart that he never looked at, never knew was torn apart. She had healed him and now she filled his heart completely.

III

Only a few rangemen were around when the news came in. Surveillance on the Walton property had paid off. Someone had arrived at nearly two o'clock in the morning. Everyone was expecting the toy maker Itai Phelan to make his appearance. At which time they would have invited him to join them for a little chat.

No one expected that they would see the object of their man hunt come waltzing in right in front of their noses. Cal and Woody were the ones on surveillance duty. They looked at each other after they watched him drive past. They had a copy of both Gene's sketch and the arrest photo of Calder Maddux. Even with just the street light, they could tell that this was definitely him. They were even more certain when he drove past them and pulled into Walton's garage. The door closed before they could see him get out of the car, but by then they were sure it was the man they had been looking for.

The call into RangeMan started off a frenzy of revisions to the plan they had for Maddux. Updates were called in all night long. No lights had come on in the house, but the glow from his computer could be seen through the edges of curtains hanging in the kitchen windows. He made no attempt to leave.

The only things changing were the teams that came in to continue the surveillance.

III

The glow of his cell phone was all the light he wanted to use right now. His presence here would be best hidden for a while the thought. Maddux walked into the kitchen from the garage. The dim light landed on the counter showed him what he had been hoping to see. He couldn't be happier, Walton had told him that the shipment of his latest toys had been delivered by Itai himself. The box was waiting for him, and he looked over each item with the limited glow of the phone. But it was enough and he confirmed that everything was just as he anticipated. His plans were coming together. He was now less than a mile away from Stephanie. It would only take five short minutes to get to her. He could act first thing in the morning.

He went about setting up his computer and pulling up the camera feed. His eyes were on the laptop. He didn't expect that he would see much action at this hour. But he wanted to watch for a while longer before he tried to get a little bit of sleep. He opened the fridge and smirked. Money talks, he thought. It always did. Walton had done everything that he had been asked. He had met him at a gas station outside of Trenton and had handed him the keys to the house and the remote for the garage door. Now he could see that the place had been cleaned and food was waiting for him in the fridge, exactly as requested. He pulled out a sub sandwich and a beer and took them to the table. He kept an eye on the screen while he ate. Then he made his way back to the bedroom. Setting the alarm on his cell phone, he climbed into bed and caught a few hours of sleep.

At first light, he went back to the laptop in the kitchen. There was a little bit more activity that he would have expected at this hour. No less than three trucks moved in and out of the garage. He stared at them willing her to be in one of the trucks that he could see approaching the gate to leave. But he was disappointed, only men were in the truck. He slumped in his chair and settled in to watch for the moment that Stephanie would finally leave the building. Then he could make his move.

III

Stephanie was nervously pacing the break room when Bobbie walked in. "What's up Stephanie?" she said.

"You've heard." Stephanie replied, it was a statement, not a question. She had stopped just long enough to look at Bobbie, and then she started again.

A final meeting in the conference room was scheduled in less than half an hour. But Ranger and Vince had already filled the ladies in on what they needed for them to do. If they would agree to it, which they both did. They were very interested in putting Maddux away for good, and were very willing to do their part. But the girls approached the situation with vastly different perspectives.

Stephanie had worked with Calder Maddux before. She knew what he was like, and that he hated her enough to torment and try to kill her. These things did not sit too well with her. The guy was dangerous and she was scared. Bobbie understood how Stephanie must feel. She had been hurt by this man, tortured all month long because of him, and had lived every day with his threats hanging over her head. She needed some extra help to get through the day. That is why Bobbie found Ella and talked with her early this morning.

"Steph," Bobbie said quietly, instantly grabbing her attention with the change in volume. Her big blue eyes looked at her curiously. Bobbie jerked her head to the right, indicating that she should come over to the corner of the room. Away from the door, and out of sight. She smiled to lessen Stephanie's anxiety. "Come on," she whispered.

When she had joined her, Bobbie slipped the backpack from her shoulder and set it on the counter. Stephanie watched as she pulled out a box of Tasty Cakes. "I know it's contraband," Bobbie said conspiratorially. ''But I had Ella sneak these in for you."

Her eyes grew large as she took the box into her hands and a smile crept across Stephanie's face. "How…" she started, looking up at Bobbie who was absolutely beaming with satisfaction.

"Everyone seems to know that this is like magic for you." Bobbie shrugged, the look on her face was honest and straight forward. "I figured you could use a little magic today," she said, as only a good friend could.

"Thanks!" Stephanie said as she carefully opened the box and took out a couple of the chocolate treats. Then she handed the box back to Bobbie. "Can you keep it in that backpack?" "I don't want anyone to find them here and try to take them away!"

She offered one of the cakes to Bobbie, who declined good naturedly. Then Stephanie gobbled down two of them, followed by a big drink of water. The sugar rush helped instantly. A boost of instant courage flooded her body and she was ready to go.

III

Erik stood with the group of men getting ready to visit Calder Maddux. Chet, Ranger, Tank and Lester were properly dressed, weapons visible and readily available . Roy had his long narrow pack with his specialityweapons slung over one shoulder. Gene had a duffle bag of his own, filled with the devices that he had been working on. And everyone was outfitted with headsets tuned to the RangeMan frequency.

Vince walked into the conference room, accompanied by Bobbie and Stephanie, and closely followed by Bobby. The mood in the room was definitely energized. Everyone was ready to do their jobs. It was time to take this guy down and keep him from ever hurting Stephanie again.

Lester grabbed a large duffle bag from the middle of the table and said, "Let's do this!" A chorus of deep voices agreed and the men started filing out of the room.

When he reached her Ranger put his arm around Stephanie. She melted into his embrace. He gave her shoulders a squeeze, he knew that she had been nervous. But she was also determined to go out and get this guy, with as much spunk as she always managed to have.

"Ready to do this Steph?" It was half question, half statement. He knew that she wanted to bring this guy in more than any of the rest of them. He could see it in her face when she looked up at him, and nodded. Her big blue eyes were sparkling and she smiled. Instinctively, he knew something was up. She was calm. A lot more than she had been this morning.

"If I didn't know better," he said. "I would swear that you are experiencing a Tasty Cake high."

Stephanie feigned innocence, "I just have the best friends in the world," she said, a bit vaguely. But they were ready to go, so he let it slide.

He kissed her forehead. "Let's go," he simply said, as they headed for the garage.

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	23. Chapter 23

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Chapter 23

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Maddux checked everything several times before he left the house. All he had to do now was get Stephanie out of that building. He was getting tired of waiting. He felt that had been more than patient, but no more. He looked over the equipment with an evil gleam in his eyes. He'd had some crazy ideas popping into his head all night. This had to be the final showdown, he wanted to see her dead. That was all that mattered. In a split second, he made a decision that was going to turn everyone's plans upside down.

He took out his generic cell phone with prepaid minutes. With a few clicks on his laptop, he pulled up the phone number for the Frank Plum residence. Impatiently his fingers pounded the numbers on the keypad. After just one ring, Helen Plum answered. The call was no longer than a minute long. But the message had been delivered. His broad face broke into a wicked smile as he left the house. The car was loaded up, and he was ready to go.

Helen's face turned white. She gasped, unable to respond, the phone fell out of her hands, it hit the floor and dangled from its cord. She raced out of the kitchen and grabbed her purse.

"Helen, what on earth has you all riled up?" Edna asked, getting up from the kitchen table and following her to the front door.

"Stephanie is in trouble," Helen said with a tremor in her voice. "I've got to get to her."

With that she turned and ran to her car. Edna was racing after her, but Helen was driving down the road before she had a chance to get any more information. As Edna hurried back into the house, she felt sick to her stomach. Something was obviously very wrong, and she wanted to know what it was. She was worried about her granddaughter, but she had no idea how she would find out what was happening or how she could help.

She made her way back into the kitchen. The phone was still hanging on its coiled cord almost down to the floor. Edna placed the receiver back in its cradle and turned to leave the room. When the phone rang, right next to her ear, it startled her and made her jump. She twisted suddenly to grab the phone and lost her balance, landing on the floor. Struggling to stand up, Edna moved as quickly as she could to pick up the call before it rang a fourth time. It was Frank.

He had been out in his taxi early this morning to make a run to the airport. On the way home he had stopped at a gas station. Frank was just calling to see if there were any messages for him before he drove all the way home. He had been expecting his good friend Harry to call for a ride. He had no idea that he would be hearing this kind of news when he made that call.

"Frank," Edna said, swallowing her pain and a sudden surge of emotion. "Frank, Stephanie is in trouble." She heard him nearly choke over the phone. His reaction only scared her even more. "Helen just flew out of here," Edna said quickly. "She didn't tell me what was wrong, she just left."

They both knew that she would only be going to one place if she wanted to get to Stephanie. So Frank slammed the phone down and jumped into his cab. He was headed for RangeMan. He had absolutely no idea what could happen to her there, he truly thought that she would be safe inside that building. Frank did not know what he would find, or what he could do, he just hoped that he would get there in time to help his little girl, and his wife.

III

The sky above them was still dark as the soft glow from the morning sun slowly outlined the horizon. Bones and Zero barely noticed as they continued to watch the Walton house. Zero had slumped down in his seat, an attempt to conceal his massive body and remain as inconspicuous as possible under the circumstances. But suddenly he straightened up, alert to the movements in the house across the street.

He and bones watched as Maddux attempted to sneak out of the house with a box in his arms. He placed the box on the passenger seat and went back into the house. Less than sixty seconds later he reemerged with a backpack slung over one shoulder, and he carried a large duffle bag. Both items were loaded into the car. The backpack in front with the box, the duffle bag in the back. It looked like he was going to go back into the house one more time, but he just stopped and locked the door.

"Ha," Zero snorted. "That's funny," he said. "The guy is an evil genius on the run, and he takes the time to lock up the house."

Bones just shrugged, and watched as Maddux climbed into his car. A locked door was not going to keep them out. A team was already on its way to come and snoop around the house. There were going to be no more secrets

"He is on the move," Bones relayed the information to RangeMan. "We've got him in our sights." After a few moments, he said in a strained voice, "He is headed your way."

Everyone at RangeMan was on alert now. They knew that they had approximately five minutes before he would get here. All the teams moved quickly to get into their places before Maddux arrived. With only moments to spare, each man was hidden from view as Maddux pulled up to the curb.

III

As they reached the door that opened into the garage, Ranger stopped with his hand on the door knob. All eyes were on him, and he paused. Making eye contact with Stephanie, then Vince and finally Bobbie, he smiled. "Ready?" he said. He opened the door "Let's go!"

Before anyone could respond, the sound of a car door from the street was heard. Immediately, the information was relayed through the headsets to everyone. Maddux was here.

The big man was not trying to be subtle today. He was running around throwing small disks on the ground both on the street and into the garage. When he caught the movement of someone opening the door inside of the garage, that evil grin of his spread across his face. "It's show time!" he said menacingly, as he tossed a smoke bomb into the opening.

Unlike the spectacular display that he had designed for Stephanie last time, this was one of Itai's homemade bombs. Simply designed to create a diversion. But still, he wanted to put on a show, so he had made a few requests.

Clouds of bright pink smoke filled the opening of the garage, spreading thick and wide before it started to fade 20 seconds later. He tossed in another one as he ran toward the duffle bag sitting on the sidewalk. A new cloud filled the space. It was supposed to give him enough time to get into place for his next assault.

Ranger and Vince held back. No sense in charging forward through the smoke screen. They would take no chances with the women next to them.

"Smells like cotton candy," Stephanie said with a smile. "He has cotton candy smoke bombs!" That made Bobbie laugh, and it may have been the break in the tension that they all needed. They were still smiling when a voice came into their headsets.

"Maddux has some black devices in his hands." That was Erik from his perch in the building next door. "Everyone in place?" he asked.

"Affirmative," came the response from Tank.

Stephanie grabbed Rangers arm and dragged him forward. "There is no way I am missing this," she said as she started running. The others followed quickly.

"Ready." Another voice said calmly.

But before the order could be made, a car came screeching down the street to stop across from the security gate. Helen Plum jumped out of her car in the midst of the fading pink smoke. "Stephanie!" She yelled, running to the garage. "Stephanie!" The relief in her voice was evident when she saw her daughter running towards her. "Are you alright?" she asked frantically, looking her daughter over as if she expected to see her shot and bleeding.

"Mom, what are you doing here…." Stephanie was saying as another car came rushing up from the opposite direction. Bright flashes sparked under the wheels of Franks cab. The car grinding to a halt amide the blasts. In an instant Frank was out of the car running to his wife and daughter. Just as he had pulled them into his arms, hugging them tight, they were all rocked by an explosion. Ranger pulled the family group away from the blast, and they ended up on the ground. Looking at the flames shooting out from under the taxi, each of them reacted differently, Frank was stunned speechless. Helen started screaming hysterically, Stephanie laughed and Ranger raised an eyebrow. Was it going to be a family thing now, accidentally blowing up cars?

Maddux was absolutely thrilled as he watched the mayhem. This had worked out even better than he had planned. He had intended for the attention to be on a mother - daughter moment, but with daddy in the mix now, the focus would be on the touching family reunion, and their safety. This would give him the chance to set the next round of explosives. Stuffing the igniter remote into his pocket, Maddux started to make his move.

"Fire," came the order. Instantly a shower of paint balls came from all directions and pelted Maddux with every color of paint imaginable. The ten men with paint ball guns closed in a little, while continuing the barrage on their target. They stopped at the predetermined distance but kept on shooting.

The large man was sputtering and twitching in every direction trying to avoid the painful attack. Finally he threw down the boxes he'd had in his hands and reached behind him to grab the gun that was tucked into his belt. A low rumbling growl came from deep in his chest. Like a wounded animal, he was hurt and angry. It made him even more determined than ever to kill Stephanie Plum. It was his whole plan. There was no other purpose to his life. There had not been anything else in his mind for over a year. The look in his eyes was just crazy now, everyone could see it as he looked around wildly. He spotted her standing up near the gate and turned to aim at her.

This action was all the permission that Roy needed to jump into action. Immediately a shot was fired. Ranger saw Stephanie hit the floor and reached for her frantically. Roy watched as it hit Maddux in his shoulder, effectively disarming him as the gun he held dropped to the sidewalk when he reached up to cover the wound with his hand. The next shot hit him in the fleshy part of his side. These were the same shots that Maddux had used on Stephanie, and he knew it instantly.

The paint balls stopped and the men moved in. maddux was completely surrounded and now the guns pointing at the man were very real. This was not at all the way he had planned his revenge. What had happened? He looked a big bear that had been cornered, as he tried to lash out, swiping a long arm at the men. Not one of them flinched.

As if the notion came from somewhere deep in his brain. Or maybe it was the intense pain he was experiencing that affected him. It was all so clear what he must do. He snatched the gun from the ground and stood up, reaching his full height. A deadly calm seemed to have come over him. The wild animal look to his eyes had been replaced with an unspeakable evil. He attempted to narrow his focus on Stephanie, and he looked her way. She was not there! Maddux spun his head around looking for her.

Ranger had grabbed her and was rushing back to the building. Bobbie and Vince were bringing her parents with her, and they had almost reached the elevator when the shot rang out. In a split instant, Ranger and Vince and Bobbie had pulled the others down to the ground again. Helen gasped as the shot hit the brick wall in front of them. It was a good shot, without the quick response from Ranger, it would have hit Stephanie.

His failure was the last thing that Calder Maddux saw. As soon as he pulled that trigger he had signed his death warrant. Roy had made the final shot of the day. This one did not miss its mark. Head shots were his specialty. He did not have to watch the big man go down, Roy turned and packed his gear. But before he left, he grabbed the camera from the window sill and stuffed it into his bag.

III

Red and blue lights were still flashing outside the RangeMan building. The fire truck had been the first to arrive. The taxi was history by the time they got there, but they made sure that it was no longer smoldering.

The coroner was still working on the scene. The large body was covered with paint and blood. But they were able to identify the shot wounds through the mess. Pictures were taken. Notes made. And finally the body was taken away.

Prison officials were on hand to enforce their jurisdiction over the escaped prisoner. Stephanie wondered how that could matter now that he was dead. But she didn't have to worry about anything but making her statement. All she could say was that she was going inside when Maddux was shot. She did not see anything at all.

Eddie was with the police that showed up. He checked in with Stephanie to be sure that she was okay. It was déjà vu all over again to have to deal with Calder Maddux.

"So the Copy Cat Gangs are at it again," he said with a smile. Stephanie just nodded and shrugged slightly.

"Do you think it was an accident that someone used a real gun instead of a paintball gun?" Stephanie said in a non committal voice. Eddie shrugged back.

"I don't know Steph, I don't think we'll ever know." He said. She nodded as he left.

It was over. A smile finally found its way to her lips. It is over!

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	24. Chapter 24

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Chapter 24 Epilog

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As soon as frank hung up on her, Edna ran across the street. Pounding on Norma's door, she nearly had the whole neighborhood in a panic.

"Is your scanner on Norma?" she asked in a hurry, pushing her way back to the family room where the police scanner sat, the little black box centered on a lovely hand crocheted doily. The lights and dials were lit up but there was no sound. In fact the only thing that could be heard was the blaring game show on TV.

"It's always on, you know that Edna," Norma said as she followed her friend to the back of the house.

With her hands on her hips and her face all wrinkled into a frown, she looked at Norma. "It's on but you can't hear it, what's the good of that?" She turned the volume up and sat down next to it, leaning forward and listening intently. Norma could see the seriousness of her posture and got worried.

"What is it Edna, what happened?"

"It's Stephanie… "Edna started to say when the scanner bleeped loudly and then went back to the static. After looking at it for a good minute waiting for it to do something, she continued with what she was saying, "Helen got a phone call and she left in a hurry."

She looked up at her friend, "Do you think it would be okay if I stayed here for a while, she asked. "I don't know what is happening but I am betting that something will come up on the scanner soon,"

Norma turned off the TV and pulled up a chair. She reached out and took Edna's hand in a show of support. They sat that way for less than ten minutes before the scanner came to life.

"Car fire over on Haywood," Edna said as she shook her head. "I hate to say it, but that sounds like Stephanie."

Several calls went out, all to Haywood. Edna and Norma looked at each other.

"Big trouble over there. I imagine Helen will have quite a story to tell when she gets home," Norma said. All Edna could do is nod her agreement.

III

Ranger hung up the phone. All arrangements had been made now, their evening out tonight would be perfect. It would be the first time that they had left the building since the Maddux incident. A secret smile teased the corners of his mouth. He had expected that the minute the danger was over Stephanie would want to go out shopping, to head for the beach, to just jump in a car and go on a drive, anything to get out of here. But she didn't. Instead, she convinced her friend from the salon to come and set up pedicures and manicures right here at the apartment. She and Bobbie had indulged in some serious pampering. Hair appointments and massages, even some questionable take-out meals were ordered, and it had all taken place in Bobbie's apartment on the fourth floor.

That had been fine with him. Stephanie deserved to have a good time after all the craziness that she'd had to put up with from Calder Maddux. The smile faded, and a crease in his brow appeared when he thought of the day it all came to an end. Smoke bombs, cars exploding, shots fired at her. It had been the most intense fifteen minutes of his life as he tried to keep her safe from that monster.

He would never forget the panic he'd had when he saw the blood spreading from under the Kevlar vest on her shoulder. Maddux had shot at her, Ranger had tried to pull her down out of the line of fire. He covered her with his own body to shield her from harm, but when he got up and saw the blood his heart nearly stopped. The fall to the ground had knocked the breath out of her. Her eyes were closed and for a split instant she looked dead. In that moment he had wanted to die too, he could not live if she was not with him.

But those blue sparkling eyes once again opened and she looked directly at him. "Thank you," she had whispered. 'Thank you?' He thought.

"For loving me," she added and he understood. And everything inside of him had come alive. He had told her that he wanted to be with her. It was true, but now he wanted more. He wanted it all.

A lot had happened since that day. Bobby had dressed the wounds that had reopened in Stephanie's shoulder and in her side. He tsked, tsked at her the whole time he was working on her. "It wasn't my fault!" she had insisted. He knew that she was right, none of what had gone on was her fault, but he liked to tease her a little bit anyway. After that she had healed quickly under his careful watch.

Ranger had insisted that Bobbie could take care of the searches while Stephanie healed completely this time. She agreed, Bobbie was the best. But, if she wanted it, the job would be hers again just as soon as Bobbie passed the physical tests and became the first woman rangeman. She was so proud of her new friend.

Ella had been recruited to help plan a surprise party for Bobbie. Stephanie just knew that she would be passing the tests in flying colors! Everyone was excited at the prospect of having her join them here. Stephanie spent a lot of time with Ella as they worked out the details. She even ended up going on the rounds with her, cleaning the men's apartments, doing laundry and even doing prep work in the kitchen. She hoped that if she helped out with the work, Ella would have more time to help her with the party and her other little plans. She didn't realize that she would enjoy it so much.

Ella was surprised and a little bit amazed at the skills Stephanie had and the thorough way she approached everything she did. An idea started forming in her head, but it had not quite worked itself out completely yet. But right now, she had a few things to deliver to Stephanie. She loved being part of all these surprises going on around here.

As Stephanie opened the door her eyes widened. What was all this? Ella's arms were piled high with packages. "Ella," she queried. "What?.." it was the only word she could get out.

"Surprise!" she nearly sang out. Ella couldn't hide her delight in the reaction. A speechless Stephanie guided her to the couch where she was able to put the packages down. Then Ella handed her a card. It looked like a formal invitation to something. As she was about to open it, Ella squeezed her arm and walked to the door. "Have a great time," she said as she slipped out and shut the door.

That left Stephanie staring at the beautiful handwriting on the antique white card. It was an invitation. To a 'private affaire' in the company of Ricardo Carlos Manoso. The request to be ready at seven o'clock that evening was accompanied by a cryptic note about this being a 'once in a lifetime' event. She was confused and curious and more than a little bit excited to see what this was all about.

The next couple of hours flew by as she got herself ready. She knew that this had all been arranged by Carlos. Everything was perfect. She had to laugh when she saw the clothes and the shoes. How many times had he asked her over the last few weeks if she was going to go shopping for anything special. Now she understood why. He had been thinking of tonight. She could hardly wait for the night to begin.

III

Amazingly, things were back to normal at RangeMan almost immediately. The intensity with which the men had worked the Maddux case was transferred to their regular jobs. Erik was back on the rotation, doing surveillance and monitoring again. But he had proven his skills at detective work and his tenacious attitude.

The shooting range was suddenly completely scheduled out. Chet slightly frowned as he studied the sign-up sheet. He had been encouraging the men to come in more regularly to get in their practice. But they had never responded to those requests like this. He allowed the lines in his forehead to fade into a smile. It was all good.

The show that Roy had put on had made an impact on the guys. His accuracy in hitting Maddux in the shoulder and his side were impressive, but it was the head shot was the icing on the cake. The guys were all good shots, even great shots. But there was seldom the need to use their guns during the regular course of business. These skills needed to be constantly worked on. So he was actually glad to see that the men were taking it seriously again.

Of course, he couldn't help but notice that Roy himself had signed up nearly every day. Keeping skills sharp was good, and playing with guns was fun too.

The paint ball guns had been put away by now. Gone, but not forgotten. Chet was sure that they would come out again sometime. It would be entirely for fun the next time anyone saw them. He was willing to let them lie for a while. This had been a long and trying month.

III

Three large dogs were pulling on their leashes, the teenage girl trying to control them was being dragged along in their attempts to get free and run. Finally she released them and they started running and jumping in joyous circles all around her. Bobbie smiled and turned away from the window.

Vince was still in the shower, so she moved into the kitchen to put the finishing touches on their lunch. She was humming when he came out and nuzzled her neck from behind. His hair was wet as she put her hand up to grab his head, turning hers to meet him for a quick kiss. He turned her around in his arms and kissed her properly and thoroughly.

A little bit breathlessly she looked up into his eyes, that were sparkling in a vibrant green . How easily he could take her breath away! But this was nothing compared to last night. Bobbie leaned back into his embrace and closed her eyes as remembered how wonderful it had been. Vince had surprised her with the whole evening. He even lit a fire in the fireplace. Dinner had been a picnic on a big blanket on the floor in front of the fire. When they were done eating, he backed up against the couch and pulled her into him. They both stared in the fire and shared some of their deepest hopes and wishes. She had been so shy to say that she had completely fallen in love with him, and that her wish was to be with him always.

Lucky for her, he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking and feeling. He took her left hand in his and threaded his fingers through hers. When he folded their arms, crossing her chest in a hug, he slipped a ring on her finger. At the same time he leaned his head forward to whisper into her ear.

"Will you make my wishes come true?" he said. Bobbie turned around to face him, looking alternately between his eyes and the ring on her finger that reflected the blaze of the fire in its depths. He saw the ardent look in her eyes, it was all he needed to confirm her feelings for him. "Will you marry me Barbara Marie Pennington?" He barely got the words out before she threw herself into his arms.

"Yes!" she said and then she kissed him on the lips. "Yes!" she said kissing him on his cheek. "Yes" she whispered into his ear as she kissed his neck. She hugged him tight, tears in her eyes. Nothing made her happier that to be held in his arms and to know that he felt the same about her that she did about him. She never wanted to let go.

Her eyes now focused again on this man that she loved so much. With a twinkle in her eyes, she smiled at him. "Will you marry me Vincent Parker Austin?" she teased. He hugged her close.

"I was hoping that you would ask," he teased her back. Bobbie knew that she would never forget how he made her feel last night. And now she was beginning to get very distracted with her cheek against his chest, but they both needed to get going. She sighed.

"You better go get dressed," she said softly. "We don't want to be late for work."

Reluctantly he pulled himself away, sneakily grabbing her hand and pulling her in for one more kiss before he returned to the bedroom to finish getting ready. She watched him walk down the hall and finally disappear through the doorway. Then she turned back to packing up their lunch.

She had been working at RangeMan for a month now. Ranger and Tank were great to let her take the same schedule as Vince. It varied from week to week, even day to day, but she could do searches any time. And she wanted to get accustomed to the hours that he worked, because she was preparing to be tested to become a rangeman. Ranger had accepted her application and indicated that he would be very pleased to have her join the team. The final tests would be next week.

Of course, her sisters were ecstatic to have her get a job and stay here in Trenton. She hadn't had a chance to tell them about the engagement yet, she could just imagine the excited reaction that they would have over this!

Thanksgiving was just around the corner and Ginny was planning a huge celebration at her house. Even Brian was able to get time to come stateside and join them. This would be the first time the family had been together since their parents had died in a car crash six years ago. So much had happened to them since then.

Bobbie was excited for the event, and was especially anxious to talk to Brian. She wanted to ask him to give her away at her wedding. Her heart was saddened that her father was not here to do the honors, but she felt sure that Brian would not only be willing, but also pleased that she wanted him to be there for her in that way.

She often thought about the last time that she saw him. He had treated her injuries dispassionately, like any other doctor that had worked with her. Brian had immersed himself in the role of a medic to be sure that she healed properly. But it had been so hard to see her hurting, it tore him up inside. So he separated his feelings, concentrating only on the medical treatments as if she were any of his other patients. Not his sister.

At first Bobbie had understood, she actually helped him by not speaking of personal things with him. She had secretly hoped that he would come around as she healed. But not once in the six months she was there in Germany did he act like her brother. Not even on the day she left.

He had apologized many times in his letters since then. Had tried to explain his actions, his feelings. It had been a hard time for both of them. It would be good to see him in person. To connect again as brother and sister. It would make them both feel some much better.

III

"A once in a lifetime event!" Stephanie reread the card several times. And each time that phrase popped out. The excitement for the evening was growing with every passing minute, but suddenly Stephanie was getting nervous. Ranger still wasn't home. She thought he would have been here a long time ago to get ready, but he had not shown and he did not call.

The clock in the kitchen read 6:55. She had already been ready for ten minutes, most of that time had been spent pacing in the living room. Finally she had forced herself to sit down, and that is when she picked up the card and read it for the hundredth time. Her heart began to pound. She knew what _she _would consider as a once in a lifetime experience. Her eyes wandered to the ring finger on her left hand. What if she was reading too much into this? What if she got her expectations up, her hopes so high that she would be let down if it didn't happen?

She stood suddenly and dropped the card onto the table. Mentally wiping the slate clean, Stephanie pushed all other thoughts aside and was determined to just enjoy the evening. Walking over to the kitchen again, she saw that the clock had barely moved. It was now 6:57. She couldn't wait any longer. Running to the bedroom, she grabbed the silver clutch purse that had come with the surprise packages this afternoon. A smile touched her lips, whoever had been shopping for her had chosen the perfect accessory for the outfit.

She caught her reflection in the mirror above the dresser, and did a once over to be sure everything was just right. The silky cobalt blue fabric shimmered as she moved. Stephanie smoothed the front of the dress, then turned to look at the back where the neckline draped gracefully nearly to her waist. The dress was understated and incredibly sexy, and it had required special undergarments that had also been included in the boxes. Fluttering butterflies filled her inside. She really looked good. Even her hair had cooperated. With the deep conditioning that she had done last week, it felt soft and now fell in barely controlled waves, tumbling over her shoulders.

Turning away from the mirror, Stephanie took a deep breath. Just then there was a knock on the door. She rushed to open it. Carlos stood smiling at her. In his hands he held a beautiful bouquet of red roses. She stood motionless, taking in the whole picture in front of her.

He was wearing a midnight blue suit, of course it was perfectly tailored and the grey shirt he wore was a perfect backdrop for the silver tie. The perfect accessory for him tonight was the secretive smile that made his eyes sparkle with mischief. He could tell that she had as been nervous as she was excited. 'Good' he thought. Because he had never been so nervous in all his life. He just didn't show it.

Extending the flowers to her broke her temporary stupor and she put her purse down so that she could take the crystal vase from him. "Oh, Carlos," she said in a hushed voice. "They are beautiful!"

Her voice was tight as she held back the tears. The roses were a simple gesture, but she realized that she had never been given flowers before and it touched some secret part of her, deep inside. With Ranger following her, she slowly walked into the living room and set them down on the table behind the couch. She turned around to find him standing close. She threw herself into his waiting arms. "Thank you!" she whispered into his ear. He kissed her neck. And all of a sudden he wasn't sure he wanted to leave. But the night was planned and he knew that Stephanie deserved a special evening for this occasion. So he pulled away and took her hand, placing it in the crook of his arm.

Gallantly he motioned to the door. "Shall we?" he asked and guided her forward. Stephanie picked up her purse on the way out and let him accompany her into the elevator that was open, waiting for them. He held her close whispering into her ear. She shivered as he told her how amazing she was. How beautiful she looked. How wonderful she smelled. Now it was her turn to want to just go back up to the apartment and spend a quiet evening together, just the two of them. But he had gone to such lengths to plan this surprise, she wouldn't spoil it. Besides she wanted to see just what he had in store for her.

When they reached the ground floor, he guided her toward the front of the building instead of to the garage. The corners of his mouth turned up into a satisfied smile when she saw the limo waiting outside for them. Her eyes found his and he saw the sparkle of surprise, of awe in them. He didn't know that no one had ever taken her anywhere in a limo before, or that it was always part of the fantasy date she had been picturing in her mind since high school. He just knew that he wanted all of his attention to be on her tonight and that was why he did not want to drive himself.

He continued to whisper into her ear as they settled into the luxurious seat in the back of the limo. She was cuddled up close to him, his arm circling around her, holding her tight to him. With his other hand, he absently rubbed over the silky fabric of her dress, sending tingles all up and down the leg under that fabric. Time had stopped for her inside the car. Suspended around her. Her entire world was Carlos. There was nothing else and the butterflies in her stomach turned into something much more consuming. Her heart felt full, almost to overflowing with the warmth of her love for this man beside her.

Before she knew it, they had reached their destination. Ranger helped her from the limo and escorted her down a heavily wooden pathway. It was not until they were nearly at the end of the path that she could tell where they were. Suddenly it opened up to the marina. A magnificent yacht was waiting for them. Several men in crisp white uniforms helped them climb onboard.

Ranger escorted her to the dining area where a candlelight dinner waited for them. As they settled into their seats, the last golden glow of the setting sun reflected on the water of the Delaware river. Sparkling like diamonds, the few remaining rays burst their light one last time before fading quickly into the depths of the dark water. Leaving them in the soft glow of candles that dimly lit the room.

The dinner was a culinary masterpiece. It looked as magnificent as it tasted. Stephanie was sure that she enjoyed every bite of it. Her only thoughts, however, were of the wonder of this whole experience. So overwhelmed with the love pouring through her, all she could see was Carlos.

Even the heavenly light and completely decadent dark chocolate mousse could not divert her attention from the man she loved. She smiled, she moaned a little as he spoon fed each bite to her. Okay, so she truly loved each mouthful of the amazing dessert. But only because he was the one feeding it to her in a way that was so sensual that she was glad he didn't actually know where those moans were coming from.

After the last bite, that she insisted that he eat, he swept her up and took her out the deck. Gathering her up in his arms, he started dancing slowly with her. Their bodies swaying together to the soft music. Moonlight now reflected on the water. Begging for the attention that it never got. Stephanie only had eyes for Carlos. And even when her head was tucked into his shoulder and he could no longer gaze into the sparkling blue depths of her eyes. He could see the love that shone from them. He lowered his head to be next to hers and continued to whisper the most amazing words to her. Some she understood, many she did not, but their meaning was evident and nearly made her cry with joy.

"Stephanie," he said so softly she nearly missed it. She raised her head and looked into his eyes. "Steph," he repeated, as if he was struggling to start a sentence that was refusing to cooperate. He reached up and grabbed both of her hands from around his neck and pulled her over to the seats along the edge of the deck. Again he tried to say the words, but they faded away when he pulled out a small box and placed it in her hands.

Stephanie stared at it. Her fingers, not connecting with her brain, fumbled to open it. Finally Ranger helped her, easing the lid up to reveal a sparkling band of gold with inset diamonds. She looked into his eyes as he removed the ring from the box and slipped it on her finger. His heart was pounding, he was breathing deeply, joy filled him completely as he saw the answer in her eyes. In her smile. In her tears. Her arms were around his neck and he was holding her tight. Smoothly he pulled them up from the seats and he spun around in an uncontained burst of euphoria, her feet not even touching the floor. She loved him. It was all he had ever wanted to know.

It was not until later, much later. That either one of them realized that no words had actually been spoken during the proposal, or her acceptance. They had not needed them. They had already shared those words. Now they were ready to spend the rest of their lives together. And that was all they needed to know.

III

IIIII

_I won't say that we have come to the end of the story. There is so much more that wants to be told. All I will say is that I have enjoyed this part of the journey with you. Thank you for coming along! _

_Dreamer_


End file.
